The Insurgency
by 4MeJasper
Summary: In a world now ruled by vampires, disgraced freedom fighter Bella takes shelter for a few months with the Cullens prior to the human insurgency.  Can she find peace with Carlisle and Jasper before the final battle for freedom?
1. Chapter 1 - July 1, 2020

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am indebted to Stephenie Meyers for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 1

Day 1 – July 1, 2020

(Carlisle's POV)

To my horror, on July 1st, 2020, Aro Volturi declares that Vampires are the true Master Race. As humans are food, they are to be taken into Vampire custody. All humans are ordered to be rounded up and placed in Human Containment Facilities. In the days following the Event, key elements of his new order emerge. Volterra decided that the existing human leaders and any potential leaders should be exterminated, and the remaining humans would be handled in accordance with new Rules drawn up by the Police. I immediately understood that these Rules were put in place to enforce social and cultural separation between humans and vampires. Chief among the Rules were the creation of a separate language, Vampiri, to be used by vampires, and Rules regarding the dress and deportment of humans in vampire custody.

The Volturi made it clear that if a human was taken to live with a vampire or vampire couple, they were to be used strictly for food, not companionship. Humans were not allowed to speak the same language as vampires and were to wear clothes and attire that underscored their subordinate status. This included wearing a collar at all times, and a leash on the collar if outside of the vampire home. During my decades of existence, I had seen human slavery practiced by various societies, but I never saw a leash used on a human. This was one of the more degrading Rules put in place to help break any lingering links between a vampire and their immediate past as human.

Inside the vampire household, the human slaves were not to read, to sit on the furniture, or allowed to call any vampire by name. These Rules were enforced by the police and violations would lead to the death of the human and possibly the vampire.

One of the worst atrocities committed by Aro in July 2020, in my mind, was when the people in universities were slaughtered, both the students and staff. This had been done to prevent help prevent the humans from organizing a Resistance. After all, universities were home to many people capable of organizing a resistance, as well as those who understood how resistance movements had operated in the past. But the schools also held the future of the human race, the arts and sciences, and contained major research centers. The Volturi had always been connoisseurs of the arts, yet they were willing to wipe out these major training centers for artists, as well as the centers for medical research and science. Who was supposed to look after the surviving humans' health? How were the technologies that vampires so adored, the electronic gadgets, fast cars, and communication systems, to be maintained?

Human heads of state and their families were either killed or sent to premier auction houses. At these places they could be bid on by private parties, just like movie starlets or other celebrities. There had been black market auction houses operating for decades before the Event, and some had been taken over by vampires. These had already begun raising human children and training them for eventual auction at age sixteen. The best known of the premier auction house was Belial's, where girls (and occasional boys) were groomed and trained from an early age to be submissives, and were sold to both human and immortal buyers at auction.

In the days following the Event, most people were taken to Human Containment Facilities. Any human in a containment facility could be bid on, but over time, the containment facilities began dividing the human population into breeders and future pets. The breeders were initially plain-looking girls or women pregnant at the time of the Event. These were kept in dormitory style barracks with their children. Their lives were strictly regimented. They had no access to books or anything else from their former human world. They spent their days in concrete cell block rooms with lighting suited to Vampire vision, living in a state of permanent twilight to human eyes. They had twice daily access to general sanitation facilities which included community showers and toilets. They were constantly in the presence of vampire guards. Twice a month they were taken to a separate room where blood was drawn using exsanguination machines designed for this purpose. The blood drawn was pooled and sent for cleaning to a centralized facility before being bottled and sold to the vampire population in stores.

I initially found my place in the new society by becoming a doctor at these facilities. I vowed to use my skills to help humans wherever I could. I would help them survive until they could be returned to freedom. In the facilities, however, I was primarily scheduled to work with pregnant woman and their young children. There was no intention on the part of the human containment facility owners to keep the elderly alive, as their blood was not as sweet as the blood of the young.

All members of the breeding population were required to have children for as long as they could reproduce. This generally meant until a woman's body collapsed from repeated pregnancies and poor diet. Three months after each successful live birth, the women were returned to the breeding rooms, where they had sex with up to five human males each night in front of two-way mirrors. The couplings were watched through the mirrors by the guards to make sure intercourse was taking place. The women were checked before being allowed to leave the room, to make sure there was semen in the vagina, and no Evasionary Tactics (human birth control) were being used. They were not allowed to bathe for up to two days after each breeding activity.

My heart ached for each of my patients, as I considered them. The women who had been free, and had experienced love or even marriage, were fully aware of the atrocity being committed by the forced sex for the purpose of reproduction. But the young girls, those growing up in the facilities, were never to have a chance at love or choice. These girls were only to meet human males during fleeting encounters in the breeding rooms and were never allowed a chance to form any lasting connection with them.

If a woman or girl showed any reluctance to the breeding program, she was shackled to the floor or wall for several days, while successive groups of men were brought to the room to impregnate her. Any male unwilling to participate in the forced sex was usually torn to pieces in front of both the woman and the other men, as an incentive to willing participation. Men were more considered expendable as sex partners, so they were often killed to enforce compliance.

The male humans were frequently used in some of the agricultural and landscaping work, generally in chain gangs, as manual labor was beneath vampires. They did have access to the outside world, to sunshine and exercise for this reason, so their plight was generally not as horrific as the enslaved women's lives.

A second section of the Human Containment Facility was devoted to future pets, another form of captivity. Initially the pet sections of the Facility were used to hold children ages eight and older at the time of the event, for grooming to live with an individual vampire as a private food source. They were trained, minimally, in the behaviors expected within a vampire household. These behaviors usually included house cleaning, conformance with the Rules, proper slave manners, and the general submissive behavior required around vampires so as not to trigger attacks. These individuals were eventually culled from the breeding population. This form of captivity could be harsher than living on a Human Containment Facility barrack. Although the pets lived in houses, with the comforts of a bedroom and some minimal privacy, they were isolated, as the Rules of vampire society dictated that vampires were not to use human language with their pets. My children began to acquire humans as pets, and once they did so, Esme and I refused to visit them in their homes. I could not accept that my own family would keep human slaves for the purpose of food.

A third form of captivity was the brothels. These sex workers, called Brothel Girls, were generally pulled from the breeding facility populations. They cost less than pets, since they hadn't had the expensive training in preparation for living in Vampire household. These unfortunate young women, once selected, lived only about 4-6 weeks. Their short lives were marked by terror and pain, dying of the injuries resulting from rough handling and exposure to venom in oral, anal, and vaginal cavities, as well as the tears to all these organs.

These were the three roles for humans allowed by Volterra in their new order: breeder, pet, or brothel worker. Any human in captivity found violating the Rules was put to death, and any humans found in the Wild were sent to a Human Confinement Facility for assignment to one of these roles. What had Aro done? What was being done to the heart and foundation of our race, those fragile beings with the ability to reach heaven? I had committed my existence to the aid of people. As a human, I had followed my father's path and become a preacher. After my change, I had become a doctor. But now I felt lost and betrayed in this world. As time went on, though, I became increasingly isolated in my outrage, as the human race's status as slaves became more accepted over the following two decades.

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	2. Chapter 2 - The Gatherings

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter Two - The Gatherings

(Carlisle's POV)

In July, 2020, the first gathering of humans was done by organized groups of hunters. My own son, reverting to his former name of Major Jasper Whitlock, was a well-known leader among these hunting groups. Jasper was a natural for this job due to both his military experiences, in the vampire Southern Wars and human Civil War, and his extended exposure as a vampire to human society. He had attended high school multiple times while living with my family. His military experience, coupled with his repeated exposure to teenaged behavior while sitting in high school classrooms, allowed him to develop strategies to take the maximum number of humans from targeted populations alive. He was one of twenty vampires awarded a medal in early 2021 by the Volturi for their contribution to the successful establishment of the new vampire society.

The first gathering done by Jasper was at Forks High School, since we lived in Forks, Washington. Although I did not witness it personally, the description of his work that day was broadcast repeatedly on television, as it was being cited as an example for other groups to follow.

First, an announcement was made over the P.A. system for the third year students to gather in the Biology Lab. Malcolm Struthers had just finished orchestra and placed his cello back in the Music Department office. Emmanuel Williams, head of the wrestling team, had been working on a project in Shop. Melanie Meeks had just finished her third period Lit class when the announcement came over the PA system. She had come to school from my office at the hospital, where I had checked the cast on her broken arm earlier that morning.

Once the entire third year class was gathered in Biology lab, Jasper entered with his team, and announced they would be taking the class to the newly opened Human Containment Facility. Malcolm, who was TA'ing the chemistry lab, pulled two ingredients that could be used to start a chemical flame, and threw them at the vampires. Hunter Jeffrey pinned him and broke his neck. Emmanuel tried to help Malcolm by tipping over a shelf of glassware, but hunter Mike attacked him, sinking his teeth into Emmanuel's neck. Melanie started crying and pleading with the vampires to stop and was immediately attacked by a third member of the vampire team.

I knew that Jasper had been on the school baseball team with Malcolm's older brother. And my scent would have still been quite strong on Melanie's cast. He must have known he had connections to these children. But he paid no attention to any human distraction and instead focused on his mission.

Jasper reportedly stood motionless in the middle of the room during the fight, and after the three humans were dead, motioned that the rest of the students were to be lead out to a bus. Terrified, the remaining students went quietly to the Human Containment Facility. This process continued for the rest of the high school and then continued at the other schools in the city. The teachers and staff were killed after the students left the buildings.

The adults were much simpler. Tey were told that their children were in custody, and they could join them if they went quietly with the gathering teams. The mothers wanted to be with the children, and the men wouldn't fight since they were separated from their children. They hoped for their families to be reunited. This model was then used throughout the country as a way to get the most humans into the facilities with the least amount of human deaths.

In the rest of the world, the humans turned in by the vampires had notable inequities in their populations. Almost no human females were turned in between the ages of 12-28. Jasper kept his hunters in line, and as a result his groups turned in populations with age groups that were consistent with census figures. The heads of the European and Eastern continent hunting group, Bruno and Gunther, on the other hand, used human girls as a reward for successful hunts. At least Jasper had the decency not to permit acts of debauchery with the young girls. Unfortunately, that generally meant that after the girls were taken to the human containment facility, a vampire buyer could purchase any girl he wanted and take them to brothels.

As a result, once the humans in vampire custody began to age and die in the European and Slavic countries, blood had to be exported from North America. Most of the human live births were from North America as well. The brothels had insatiable demands for teenage girls, as the girls enslaved within brothels were dying within 4-6 weeks. After all, it took twelve to thirteen years to produce a teen aged girl. After a decade, there were rumors that kidnapped vampresses were being used in the brothels to offset the lack of available humans.

Yet another problem with the facilities was that Aro had put a cap on the price of the bottled blood. In order to make a profit, the owners of the Human Containment Facility had kept the young humans being raised in twilight style darkness without access to sunshine or exercise. The limited food rations supplied to humans were bought from the cheapest source available. This began to take a toll on the human inmates' health, so that after about sixteen years after the Event the younger females reaching breeding age had weakened bones. Many girls were experiencing broken backs and pelvic bones during pregnancy, and as a result, they were only producing one child before dying.

We had heard that there had been some humans who were sheltered by friendly vampires or had successfully hidden in isolated spots in the wildernesses growing between the occupied cities, who had started a resistance movement. The rumors claimed that a group of men had been chosen to become the Human Council. They oversaw the Resistance and hoped someday to see the liberation of humans from all forms of vampire custody and the reinstatement of Human Law. Most vampires did not take these stories seriously, and I was glad. Those vampires who did take the stories seriously tried to hunt down the council members. Personally, I could only hope that this council could find a way to keep human civilization alive until the day human freedom would be restored.

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	3. Chapter 3 - Renee's Story

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, which began to plan the Insurgence.

I am indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 3 - Renee's story

Renee had been married in the autumn of 2019. She had married her high school sweetheart after graduation, and she and her new husband had moved into their new home after their honeymoon. She felt she was living her dream and was very happy. She had immediately begun to decorate one of the rooms of their small house as a nursery and was delighted the day she learned she was pregnant.

She began making a traditional doll for her future child. The women of her family had a custom of making dolls from the scraps of their wedding dress. The doll Renee made had eyes made with buttons from her grandmother's boots, an apron and dress made with scraps of lace and silk from her wedding dress, and a blue belt cut from the ribbon that had been part of her flower girl's bouquet. The doll was stuffed with cotton from a quilt and a bit of her veil to make it stiff.

Renee's father made her a rocking chair and crib for her nursery, and he also brought a new set of jacks and other toys "for the boy," just in case her first child wasn't the girl she dreamed of having. His wedding gift to the couple had been a new roof for their first home.

Her husband was on a business trip in late June, 2020, and she was waiting to tell him the news of her pregnancy in person. The day he was to return, she was watching the news when she saw Aro announce the Event. She locked the doors, looked for garlic and anything to make a stake with, trying desperately to remember how to combat a vampire from the movies. Finally her husband's car pulled up to the house. He exited the car and came to the door with someone she didn't recognize. She ran to the door, and when he opened it, she saw his red eyes. His companion's eyes were red as well.

The companion, whose name she was to never learn under the new Rules, was there to take her to the local Human Containment Facility. Her husband had drawn up a contact with this vampire selling Renee to him. Her husband had been changed by a vampress who wanted him to be her mate, and she had changed him a few days before the Event during his supposed business trip.

Renee dropped to her knees and pleaded with her husband for their baby's sake, and she achieved a result, of sorts. The second vampire told her husband that he would amend the contract to include her unborn children for an additional sum of money. Her husband agreed and sold his rights to any unborn children for an additional $50.

The second vampire leaned over the kneeling woman to attach a collar and chain to her neck. Renee started to plead with him, but he slapped her. Every time she tried to speak, she was slapped again, until she realized she was not allowed to speak to a vampire.

She left the house with her new owner, never to see it again. The doll was left on the rocking chair. She was taken to a waiting bus, where she was chained to the seat. After the bus was full, they were driven to the Human Containment Facility. To distract herself along the way, she memorized the route to the Human Containment Facility, so she would know how to get home again. But the next time she was to see freedom was during the few minutes of her escape attempt with her youngest daughter, Bella. The escape attempt would cost Renee her own life, but lead to Bella's freedom.

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	4. Chapter 4 - Life on the Colonies

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 4

Human life on the colonies

There were colonies throughout the wilderness. Some humans had managed to evade capture during the initial round up, and they were joined by others who had escaped vampire custody. These people had frequently formed colonies. The more stable colonies, unfortunately, tended to be discovered. However, as vampires liked to hunt, the colonies were left in place, and hunting teams would raid the colonies at certain points throughout the year. Sometimes they would catch and release the colony members. Sometimes they would watch a child growing up. When he or she reached a certain age, the hunter would get a contract for the child, ensuring payment, and then snatch the child for the buyer. As the population in the Human Containment Facilities began to collapse due to the lack of births and rising maternal mortality rates, the colonies became an important source for children.

It did not escape the colony leaders that they were being hunted regularly, and they began to bitterly refer to themselves as "the King's deer", only being left free in order to serve as vampire sport. During cold winters, the vampires would drop off blankets, firewood, and food, so there would still be prey to be hunted when spring came.

The colonies were a source for resistance fighters. The established colony leaders were generally in contact with the Human Council and were trained on the now developing vampire fighting techniques. At the time of the Event, humans knew very little about fighting vampires. After over a decade of living around them, and being hunted by them, humans had begun to develop weapons of varying effectiveness against the vampires. They also had been given some insights into vampire physical powers and weaknesses by the Allies, those vampires not killed by Aro for protesting the state of the humans. These vampire Allies were critical to the human resistance, but for a vampire to be discovered to be an Ally meant death to the vampire, even though the human resistance movement was not taken seriously by Volterra.

The status of a colony, and their allocation of resources, began to depend on the number of "breeding age girls" within the colony. The girls and children were considered the heart and prize of the colony, and the colonies' defense tactics centered on keeping them safe. The young women and children were considered the future of the human race, if there was to be a future, as the human population dropped rapidly in the years following the Event.

People began to use a new calendar in tandem with the traditional twelve month calendar. The day of the Event, July 1, 2020, became Day 1. Days were then number from that date forward. Throughout history, people in captivity had counted the number of days they had been incarcerated and also counted down the days to their freedom. Since most of the human race was now in some form of captivity, the Human Council decided to use a linear calendar, beginning with the day of the Event, both in honor of, and as a constant reminder of, those humans still in vampire captivity. They planned an insurgence against Aro and the Volturi brothers residing in Volterra but wanted to negotiate with them for better living conditions for the humans in captivity while still planning this insurgency.

Colony members could read, but books were difficult to carry and keep, so the colonies began to revert to oral traditions. Members would memorize various key documents from the centuries of human writings. There were religious documents, including the source books such as Bible and Qur'an, and rituals, such as weddings and funerals. They also memorized political documents, such as various treaties and founding documents of nations, including the American Declaration of Independence, the Constitutions of various democracies, the British Magna Carta, and other documents. Works of science and technology were needed for survival and military purposes. And of course, they memorized works of literature, including poetry and plays, to recite in the evenings and long winter nights around fires.

Life on the colonies was hard and strict. The colony leaders carried pistols to be used on any colony member who engaged in behaviors that threatened to expose the colony. They had guards posted constantly, and guards were frequently killed during the Hunting party raids.

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	5. Chapter 5 - the Home Coven

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 5 - The Home coven

There was a group of Native Americans who had long lived in isolation while pursuing their lives with their families. They lived along what would have been the U.S. and Canadian border at the time of the Event. The Home family-coven structure was unique because when the original vampire of the group, a young father, had been attacked by a vampire, he had returned to his family, deciding that his role was to be guardian of the family. After a few decades, he spoke to the family, and they decided to offer a role of guardian to another young family member, Luther. Over time, a family member from each branch was turned, so as to put more guardians in place against the growing threats of civilization. These vampires lived with their human families, and these uncles were highly appreciated as babysitters in addition to guards. They did such things as teaching children to swim, since they were able watch an entire group of children in the streams without fear of losing any individual child. They also loved infants, and would hold and rock a colicky child so the mother could sleep. The growing vampire coven watched generations of their human family members pass through their lives in safety, from birth to death.

Papa, as he was known to the vampire side of the Family, or Grandpa, to the human side, changed those individuals he felt had fighting abilities or other gifts useful to defense. Discussions were held with the heads of the human family, and the individual selected, prior to any change. One of the more unique gifts held by one of the vampire guardians was the ability to redirect anyone's sense of space. This gift added a special layer of protection to the coven, as it meant the family could not be found by outsiders. Anyone from the outside would think they were walking in a straight line and would instead be walking around the family grounds, so the human-vampire family was never discovered by strangers. Only those individuals accompanied by, or welcomed by, the coven-family could find Home.

The only female vampire member of the Home coven had been changed after an accident involving a newborn. At the time one young member was changed, he had been close to his younger brother. He had promised to come back for the boy's birthday, despite the separation required for safety reasons during the first year. The brothers had agreed to meet in a remote field on the given day. Leah had followed the younger brother that day and saw the newborn brother at the edge of the field. The boy had been holding a scythe, and when he saw his older brother on the field's edge he got so excited that he dropped it, cutting his hand. The newborn, who had slipped away from his assigned brother-handlers for the secret birthday meeting, attacked his brother. Leah ran to help, grabbing the scythe, and was attacked as well. Grandpa heard the screams and arrived on the scene too late to save the younger brother, but he did save Leah by changing her. She has stayed with Papa ever since.

At the time of the Event, Papa called the family together and told them he would not be turning in the humans as in as required by Volterra. He told them he wanted to turn more men immediately, for once considering the non-family in-laws as possible guardians. The human side of the family determined how many vampires they could support, as they insisted on feeding their vampire relatives from their wrists, and more humans were turned, in order to give better protection for the family.

Papa's fight training sessions for the boys turned more intense, as the boys were indoctrinated on how to keep fighting with lost limbs, and how to force even those dismembered limbs to fight. They were told if a human family member was taken, they were to search for the family member for up to 100 years, then start searching for whoever had taken that family member. They were to start their search with the vampire who had been responsible for taking their relative, and then start killing anyone related to action, up to the members of the Volterra, until they met their own deaths.

In time, this group, in their remote location on the Canadian/American border, had become the fiercest, best-trained fighting force in the vampire world. And they were completely unknown to the Volturi.

PLEASE READ. I WILL FORWARD EXCERPTS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER TO ALL REVIEWERS.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Cousins Come Home

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 6 - The Cousins Come Home

Day 6060, (February 1, 2037)

At the time of the Insurgence, the Home Coven had taken over the family business from the human side of the family. Before the Event, the humans had managed the business, which was selling lumber from their property and lumber products including furniture. After the Event, the vampire side of the family handled the business and continued the distribution. Initially, there was little need for furniture, as vampires simply went into the now vacant human homes, and after selecting the house they wanted, they scavenged the other houses for furnishings to their taste. But after a while, a taste for novelty restored an interest in new furniture, and business returned. The Boys began to make trips into various cities to sign contracts for shipments of their products.

On one such trip, nine of the boys left Home for various cities. None of the vampires had mated yet, as they stayed close to Home to guard the family. On this trip, six of the boys were drawn to the local Human Containment Facilities of the cities they were visiting. Once at a facility, they followed scent trails to the breeding side and found six girls, ranging from ages thirteen to eight. Since the boys were drawn in each case by the human girl's scent, they had to hide this fact, as mating with humans was not allowed.

Luther, who at age 550 was the oldest of Papa's boys, had the most dramatic reaction to his future mate's scent. He was with Byron, who at 75 years of age was one of the younger Boys. Luther was showing him how to conduct the family business. They were traveling in North Carolina on their way back home from meeting with a client.

Luther unexpectedly stopped the car along the freeway, got out, and raced into the woods. Byron followed him, but by the time he caught up, Luther had gone into his animal side and was beyond the reach of words. Luther was circling a massive brick building but instead of entering through a door, smashed a rock into a wall. With the wall weakened, Luther began tearing out the stone, mortar and rebars. When the guards arrived on the scene, Luther tore the arms off three guards and tossed them into a corner. After that, the guards watched from a distance. Guarding humans was supposed to be an easy job, one that did not involve confrontations with trained Vampire fighters.

Once inside the building, Luther ran down the hall, stopping briefly in the room with the exsanguination machines. He went into a rage at the sight of the machines, which he had never seen before, and started to tear apart anything with his future mate's scent on it.

At this point, a human girl named Celeste, who was waiting by the door of her cell, called "hello", and Luther tore off down the hall, following her voice.

When he found her, he put his hand into her cell in an open, upturned position. When she placed her hand in his, he pushed aside the rebars of the cage, picked her up like she was a soap bubble, and ran back down the hall the way he had come. He carefully put her through the hole he had made in the wall, and once they got to outside, he set her down on the grass. Despite the strong attraction he was feeling, he recognized she was only thirteen years old and was very gentle with her.

Byron, meanwhile, did what any good Vampire would do after seeing his 550 year-old brother tear down walls and take off with a human. He got out his cell phone and called Papa.

Papa just said, "Well shit", and yelled for someone to gas the Cessna. They flew to North Carolina, and when Papa saw and smelled the Human Containment Facility, he told the owner that they were going to take the girl, and in return, he would not summon his remaining sons to tear down the rest of the facility. The Human Containment Facility owner decided this was a probably a good deal and let her go with Papa.

Once Papa had brought Luther and Celeste home, he contacted the rest of the missing boys and told them if they had found a human girl, come home now. Five other boys had also found their mates, but they had bought the girls from the facilities in the usual way, trying hard to hide their true intentions. They were all ashamed of their actions, as they were appalled at the prospect of buying a human though they were excited they had finally found their mates.

Once everyone was assembled back at Home, it became apparent that the six girls were related. They looked as though they could all be the same girl, just at different ages, and they all had a very attractive scent to vampires. In fact, they had almost identical scents, with different notes being highlit for each girl. Celeste smelled more strongly of honeysuckle, Hope smelled of orange blossoms, Faith smelled of roses, and so on. The six girls, upon meeting, realized that they had all seen one another in what they thought were dreams. They realized they could, now that they had met, communicate with one another internally, without talking.

The six new couples posed something of a housing problem. The human side of the family had traditional housing. On the Vampire side of the family, only Papa and Leah had a true house. The human mothers had declared several centuries ago that Papa, as head of the vampire family, needed a house and forced him to build one. Once Leah was turned, Papa thought it improper for a young woman to live in the bachelor pad style house that the boys shared, so she lived with him. The vampire boys had a kind of long house, a crash pad, as they didn't sleep and were on constant guard duty.

Now that there were vampire-human couples at Home, Papa built a traditional house for each of the girls. He had been horrified at conditions of the Human Containment Facility they had grown up on. He wanted the girls to have as much a normal human experience as was possible while living with the boys, so he built six matching houses for them in a vacant spot on the property. Of the six girls, only Hope was actively mated to her Vampire, as she was eighteen. Hope brought with her one child and was pregnant with another. The other couples were waiting for the girls to reach an age Papa felt appropriate for mating.

Once they realized the girls were related, Papa asked if there were any other family members. The girls had been aware of two deaths from their dreams. One cousin had died during child birth of a broken hip, and another cousin had been sold to a brothel and died within four weeks. The seventh cousin was not with them. They also learned that the baby Hope was raising was not her own. When she gave birth to a boy while living on the human death camp, he had been taken from her, and sent to another Human Containment Facility. Hope had been given a girl to raise in his stead. So Papa sent the boys back down to search for Hope's son, and they also began trying to track the missing cousin.

As the cousins had the gift of shared consciousness, they could tell Papa the missing cousin's name was Bella, and she was in place that was dark but was not a Human Containment Facility. The "room" she was in appeared to be moving. It was eventually determined to be a train, a space the cousins did not recognize as they had never experienced one. Celeste described the seventh cousin as a samurai warrior. She was initially laughed at, as she was considered a dreamer. It turned out she was not entirely wrong about her cousin, however. Several of the boys were sent to try to locate the missing cousin in order to reunite her with her family. The result of the search surprised everyone but Celeste.

Four of the boys had gone south and followed the cousins' descriptions of the scenery and signage visible from the train until they came close to Bella, the missing cousin. But Bella had sensed the vampires trailing her and had gotten off of the train. She knew she was being followed and started moving on the ground. They began to run circles with decreasing perimeters, trying to locate her by keeping her in the center. She slipped through their circle by jumping onto the back of a passing truck.

After Bella slipped out of the boys' circle maneuver, Papa sent Luther. Luther found her while she was still asleep. He waited in a tree, so she wouldn't be startled by seeing a vampire when she woke up. When she woke up though, she was incensed at the sight of a vampire in a tree. Luther jumped to the ground and explained that he was there to take her to live with her family. When Bella only rolled her eyes, and said, "That's different, but if you're going to bite me, just do it here," Luther leaned forward to pick her up.

This was the move Bella had been waiting for. She flashed out her sword and cut off one of his arms. She quickly kicked it underneath her and held it in place by putting her foot on the wrist. She waited for him to try to retrieve it, so she could cut off his head. When it appeared he was going to wait her out, she set the sleeve on fire to push him into action. That got the negotiation going. Eventually, she let him have his arm back, as she sensed he didn't really mean her any harm. She still had not reconciled herself to the voices in her head, as she worried that they were auditory hallucinations. What Luther told her about her family made sense and gave her some relief.

They ended the stand-off when Luther called Papa and described Bella as an accomplished fighter who could handle herself. Although both Luther and Papa were reluctant to leave little Bella in the wilderness, it was what she wanted. So Papa told her she could come join her family any time, and Luther left, returning Home to the family and Celeste.

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	7. Chapter 7 - Hangin Out in the Tunnels

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 7 – Hangin' Out in the Tunnels

Day 6937 (June 29, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

I can hear someone out there.

I had found a hiding place, out of the forty degree Chicago weather. The storm came in before it was forecast, but this subbasement is working well as a shelter hidden from vampires. Or was working well, as someone is out there.

I had stopped in Chicago to pick up supplies for a Resistance doctor, the one who treated the humans I had been able to liberate. The only one with enough guts to treat the badly injured girls, the brothel girls. But now the Human Council has ordered me to stand down, as my activities were feared to draw attention from the vampires to the Resistance. The Council planned to try to negotiate with the Volturi for human freedoms and a reinstatement of human law. Yeah, right. Aro is so going to listen to them

Almost twenty years since the Event. Twenty years since the Vampires took control and ordered all humans to vampire custody. Those who survived were in the Living Death Camps, the human term for the Human Containment Facilities; were Blood Slaves, what the Vampires called Pets; or were sex workers in the vampire brothels. The brothel girls only lasted four to six weeks before dying of their injuries, so there was a continuous need for replacements. Naturally, being a teen-aged girl, the trackers always think of me for the job. Thanks, guys. Love you too…

I had been born on a living death camp, on day 731, day 730 of my mother's captivity. She had spoken wistfully of life before the living death camps, of places where there was a blue sky overhead, houses with multiple rooms to live in, clothes in many colors to wear, schools and toys for children, gardens with flowers and vegetables to tend, and stores with fresh food. Now our lives on the living death camps were confined to a 30 x 40 foot cell block, with the bi-weekly trips to those infernal machines for exsanguination. We were just food for Vampires and were never to leave these concrete prisons.

But I did leave, as part of a group of five that managed to escape. I was the only one to survive. But I did survive, and I found the human colonies and I joined the human resistance. Until the Council ordered me to stand down. Which is why I am here, today, trying to decide where to go next. The order was to stand down, desist all human liberation activity, most gallingly, find a home. That was the difficult order. My status as Wanderer had been denied. The Human Council refused to accept my petition to be a Wanderer. Many of us were Wanderers during this Diaspora, looking for a home that could not exist. Our parents' homes were either in occupied territories or had been destroyed. No one would feel nostalgic about returning to the Living Death Camps, what the vampires called the Human Containment Facilities. I had tried living in the colonies, but kept getting into "disagreements" with the colony leaders. In one case, the Colony Leader had executed another colony member because of me. I was spared because I was a "breeding age female". Whether it was the colonies or the vampires, my status was the same: breeding age female. Protect the Womb, the Future Mothers.

That kind of crack was the type of thing that got me in trouble with the Colony Leaders – how could I draw a parallel between their efforts to save the human race, and the vampires' efforts to breed humans for blood? As far as I was concerned, both sides only saw me as a walking womb, not an individual.

But who is out there? Isaiah had prepared me well for life in the post-Event wilderness, training me in survival skills that involved understanding vampire hunting and tracking methods, how to find food in the wild, plus how to use the remnants of human civilization left behind by the vampires. Lots of things could be used by turning them into weapons – car bombs could be made, guns converted, or soldering torches turned to weapons. After I learned to read, I spent nights reading technology manuals and chemistry books, coming up with new ways to fry those suckers.

We, the human race, didn't have a good showing right after the Event. We were just herded by the hunters like Jasper Whitlock's groups into the Containment Centers, to be turned into breeders in the Human Containment Facilities, or sold to Brothels for sex, or sold to individual vampires as blood slaves. No one in the old days, before the Event, even believed that vampires existed. But we believe now.

After the announcement of the Event, teams of Vampires such as those lead by Major Jasper Whitlock went door-to-door and took in the humans that had been left unchanged by vampires. Whitock's group was one of four that was recognized and given awards by Aro in the months after the Event. They were credited for making the Event transition a smooth success, rounding up enough humans to stock the Farms and Pet Stores for the general Vampire population during the transition. Of the twenty vampires so recognized, nineteen are dead. Some due to the generally violent nature of vampire society (really, have these guys heard of alternative dispute resolution, or must they just rip one another's heads off for anything), and some at the hands of the Resistance. I had the honor of taking out Victor Swerdlow, the Butcher, myself. Wonder if Whitlock feels lonely?

Whoever is out there has put food at the entrance to one of the pipes I am hiding in. The smell is wonderful, but I'm not going to just go out. Isaiah said that since the Event, life was so much easier for the vampires they had almost become "prissy", not wanting to get dirty just to find a human. If you just managed to get muddy or smelly, they often wouldn't follow. Generally. What's a little dirt if you don't get bit? He even helped with finding weeds with strong smells that would help mask my human smell. My human smell – that was a big problem. I really smell good to them, drawing them in. I needed to put bits of weed into my hair and rub mud over my body to partially mask my smell. Didn't work completely, but it helped. Survival in the wild is the name of the game. And I'm a winner at this game, having survived for two and a half years on my own.

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	8. Chapter 8 - Going to Vampireville

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 8 – Going to Vampireville

Day 6938 (June 30, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

My uninvited visitor has been back. As a result of the poor diet on the farm, I am very small, nearly four inches shorter than I would have been about twenty years ago. And vampires were generally tall, as they were often selected for change based on looks. I can get into places they cannot, unless they want to tear down walls. And some would do just that, due to the smell of my blood.

More food has been put out at the entrance to the tunnel, but I won't come out for it.

I run a small diversion, to see if I could lose my unwelcome visitor, going out into the city sewer system and welding one of the sewer lids behind me closed with my blowtorch. He followed, but I got to another part of the building.

Now he's outside again, and it's time to act.

I come out, and there he is, a blond vampire wearing a white coat with an embroidered name on it. He may be a doctor, and the Human Council has rules about killing or harming doctors since they aren't graduating any more from medical school. I turn on my torch to full blast, flicking it down a hallway as the brightness of the interior flame showing it would incinerate him. He watches the torch's flame then sets down the food he brought. I pause, relying on my sense about the danger he may pose, and decide to eat the food. His eyes never leave the torch.

He holds out his hand, saying, "I'm Carlisle Cullen," then says something about not being able to think about leaving me here in the cold.

I'm only in the cold because he is forcing me to leave my warm hiding place. He tells me I don't need to be afraid of him, and that, as I can see by his topaz eyes, he only drinks animal blood. Well, pal, your eyes are pitch black. Guess you noticed my smell. Oh well, guess I'll go with him. Upstairs, into Vampireville. Rats, I hate these places.

We go up into the hospital, a full-fledged Vampireville. Many stares are directed our way as I am being led by the hand, fresh from the wild, with my "wildchild" hairdo-short and filled with twigs. There is so much interest that he picks me up and runs to his office.

Well, I'll go with him and then ditch him soon. I won't talk to him in these places. This building is laced with mind-readers. They can't read my mind, but I can feel it when they try. It's like a pressure on my head. If they are in front of me, it's like they push on my forehead, then they go to the side, and I quickly feel another push from that side. Sometimes I want to ask, _So why don't you just stick your nose in my ear, see if you can get a better view that way?_ But you don't talk to them. If it really gets bad, and they become suspicious, I give them with a blank look and then mentally run a loop of Heckle and Jeckle cartoons through my head while l look at the ceiling, then letting the ceiling view cut in between the cartoons. That stops their curiosity. They just shrug, thinking "another crazy human".

But, as it is against the rules for a vampire to speak in a human language to a human, as long as I remain silent, this doctor won't get into trouble on my account. You never know but I might be able to turn a doctor to an Ally. And we need Allies in this war.

So it's off to his office. And, almost immediately, into the shower. My mudpuppy look isn't cutting it with this suave, well groomed vampire. He sighs when I won't answer his questions then starts washing me. He looks carefully at my scars, especially at the bite-mark over my carotid artery on my neck. That always gets 'em. He looks at the bruises on my arms, from my recent Living Death Camp visit, and then my ankle scars, a gift from one of the guards on the living death camp. Guy gave me a complete anklet on my left ankle, one scarred dot at a time using his cattle prod, and was working on the second ankle. Said he was planning to buy me when I got old enough, so he could take me home and see what I looked like with my feet really in shackles. I got out before that could happen.

This doctor seems nice enough, and he has food and a hospital bed for me. Eventually he'll leave that outer office, and I'll slip out and get to my car in the garage across the street. Maybe I'll go back to Texas, back to Isaiah's ranch, and ride my pony. Maybe I'll call my cousins and go live with the Home coven. Or maybe I'll keep heading west and check out the few remaining colonies I haven't visited and been kicked out of yet. California is supposed to have a few colonies, including the mobile ones sheltered by the surfer dudes. These vampires follow the waves, just as they did when they were human. They are rumored to take in humans and teach them to surf. If any trackers or owners show up looking for their new surfing buddies, the surfing dudes just kill them and move the group elsewhere along the coast, always searching for the next wave.

There are options for me, getting kicked out of the Resistance (oops, ordered to "stand down," they said) at the age of sixteen isn't the end of the line for me, I just know it.

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	9. Chapter 9 - Leaving Chicago

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

The Insurgency, Chapter 9 – Leaving Chicago

Day 6939 (July 1, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

Carlisle has been trying to get me to sleep, but I don't sleep. I can sleep for two hours, but if I hear any sound from a passing vampire, I'm jerked wide awake. Living for over two years in the wild doesn't lead to regular sleep habits of eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Especially with my sense for the position of any vampires in the vicinity. I may not be able see or hear them, but I can sense them, with something like radar, for up to five miles. This mini-gift is very useful in the wild, but is a pain here in this Vampireville crawling with the bloodsuckers. I know I smell good to this vampire, as I smell good to all vampires, but strangely enough, he smells unusually good to me and sitting with him, I start to relax a little. Not enough to talk though. That won't happen inside any kind of Vampireville structure. Any place crawling with vampire mindreading cops.

He's brought me clothes and made phone calls. He never leaves the outer office, so there has not been a chance to for me to slip out yet. All I have to do is get to my car in the heated garage across the street. My beloved Bumble Bee, a souped-up yellow Taurus. Can't drive the expensive cars, vampires will look in to see who's driving. They stopped looking for human drivers about five years after the Event. With my ability to hold my breath, which also seems to stop the sound of my heartbeat and blood flow for up to 30 minutes, I can drive unnoticed for a short time, even in the Occupied cities, such as Chicago and New York.

What a laugh – some of my easiest Liberations were humans left in cars in the Occupied cities. If I saw another person sitting locked in a car, I would see if I could break into the car. Once the door was open, I would ask them, "Wanna blow?" The human always nodded frantically, I would climb in, start the mort, and then we were gone. Once we hit 60 mph, we were generally going to be able to outrun a pursuer. If the vampire wanted either the car or the human back, they wouldn't risk wrecking the car. They would follow, hoping we would run out of gas. Once out of town, I would pull over to look for a tracking device on the car. And next, I would ask the human if they had been micro-chipped. If the car was an Audi, I could convert one of the gizmos they always have to remove it, just say, "Deep breath" to the person, and it was gone.

Carlisle has another Vampire in his outer office; they are looking at a computer, drawing up documents. I learned Vampiri, the vampire language, from Crazy Chick Nomad. I can lip read Vampiri, and I understand it, but I can't speak it, as some of the sounds cannot be made or heard by humans. This looks like a judge who has come by. Carlisle appears to be a getting a court order for "protective custody" of me, based on the scars and appearance of general neglect, as in my weight.

He comes over after the judge leaves and says, "Well, now we are going home. Are you ready?"

Me, I'll talk after we get out of Vampireville.

Carlisle wraps me in a blanket, and carries me to his Mercedes in the hospital parking lot. We leave in the early evening, driving into the sunset. After a few hours, he asks if I am thirsty. Now that we were out of Vampireville, I'm not worried about talking, so I answer. He is pleased and surprised, so he tries a few more questions. I answer basic questions, such as am I hungry, thirsty, etc. and am silent about the rest. This is a nice car, I may need to borrow it to get where I'm going, but will have to ditch it as soon as I can switch for a less flashy ride. I always drop a note to the registered address of the owner in the glove compartment after I'm done with a car. I'm not a thief by choice, it's just because humans are entirely disenfranchised. We have no rights, not to money, property, our own bodies or our lives. The only right the dispossessed have, of course, is the right and duty to fight for freedom.

PLEASE REVIEW, I WILL SEND A TEASER TO ALL REVIEWERS. NEXT CHAPTER IS

WRITTEN FROM CARLISLE'S POV!


	10. Chapter 10 - 1st Meeting - C's POV

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 10 – First Meeting, from Carlisle's point of view.

(Carlisle's POV) –

The last few days had been a whirl. I had been outraged at the Event almost twenty years ago. It was agonizing for me to read about the rounding up of the humans, and the massive slaughter of educated human society. Where would the future art, music, literature and technology come from? Jasper had been called into duty to participate, and he didn't mind going. He had always found living with humans difficult, and he liked simple military structures with duties and hierarchies clearly outlined, so participating didn't bother him. Esme and I had been put in difficult positions as human friends and colleagues tried to get us to shelter them, but we couldn't shelter them all. We didn't end up sheltering any. Many vampires who tried to help humans were killed outright, so I told Esme we would survive and help somehow.

My children had all moved out of our family home. First Emmett and Rosalie, then Jasper and Alice, decided to take human pets for food, and we wouldn't tolerate this treatment of humans in our household. Edward left a few years later, hoping that by living alone he could get some peace from his mind-reading ability. But all of the children did come back for visits. Especially little Alice.

Alice had taken mysteriously ill a few months ago and had begun spending time at our house again, clinging to Esme. First she had stomach pains, then she began having numbness in her fingers and toes, and she was becoming clumsy. She complained of being cold and spent days sitting in the living room wrapped in a blanket. She still went to the back to her house in Forks on a daily basis, as she and Jasper had a captive human, a pet, that they were exsanguinating for food. Her name was Ardella I learned, though they never called her that.

Rose and Emmett were the first to have a human for a pet, as it was trendy. Their first pet, a boy named Clyde, died suddenly while Emmett was traveling. Rose went to Human Containment Facility side that sold pets, the Pet Store, and obtained two other males to live in their household before Emmett returned from his trip.

After Edward moved out, he took a job at the Human Containment Facility in Seattle. There were jobs that were required of all registered mind readers, such as working in courts and at the Human Containment Facilities. In the Facilities, the mind readers were used to check for escape plans. He decided to stay on at the Facility after his required duty period had been fulfilled, however. Some of the pets were being trained to be "musical", without being trained to read, so as to be able to entertain their owners. The Human Containment Facility owner was trying to give the premier auction houses some competition by training humans in certain behaviors. Only a few behaviors were allowed, all performance style for the vampire owners, including singing and dance. A talented human could fetch a very high price in the auctions at the auction houses such as Belial's. Edward was in charge of this music education at his Seattle Human Containment Facility. He wasn't patient, so I wasn't optimistic about his success in this endeavor, but it was a job. He only had a few hours of this type of work per week, the rest was spent working as a mind reader in the general human population at the HCF.

Two days ago, while visiting a hospital in Chicago, I had sensed a heartbeat somewhere below my feet. I went to the subbasement and was stunned by an appealing floral scent, though it was very faint. I tried to track the human, but she was wedged somewhere in the walls. The longer I spent in the basements, the more I wanted to see her. I tried to lure her out with hot food, but she wouldn't come out. I began placing food at the entrances to the steam pipes and then leaving, and noticed eventually she was taking the food.

By the second day, I grew worried as a cold front was coming in. I spent all day trying to trace the heartbeat throughout the maze of steam pipes. Finally, she appeared. I was almost brought to my knees by her scent, attracting me like nothing I have experienced before. She was small, with messy hair full of what looked like twigs and leaves, dark shadows under her eyes, and a determined look. She was carrying some type of blow torch that produced a flame that looked dangerously hot. She looked me in the eye, turned on the torch, and then looked back at me. I couldn't leave her, every ounce of me was drawn to this tiny, worn out yet determined feral being.

I was able to take her back to my office in the main hospital. She hasn't spoken yet but doesn't fight me. She has some nasty scars, including one on her neck and a series of scars around her ankles. She is very underweight due to malnourishment, and so is probably small for her age. Despite this, she is very appealing, and this disturbs me. I called in a favor, and got a judge friend of mine to give me custody papers, based on neglect and abuse. Now I can take her home and heal her.

But what are my intentions with this young girl? I tell myself I am protecting her from others, perhaps she was released to be tracked by her owner. She is now lost forever to whoever was foolish enough to let her go, because I know that if her owner contacts me, and I can't buy her from him, I will kill him. A few days ago I would never have even considered buying a human, and now I am taking custody of one.

I call Esme, and ask her to convert the small room that opens onto my office into a bedroom. It is a small room and has no windows, but for now that will suffice. I call Jasper and tell him that I will need his help. I am bringing home this child and plan to provide a highly structured environment. I plan to be with her when she is awake and close by when she is sleeps, and to monitor her food intake, clothing, and all other aspects of her daily routine. Perhaps by providing a routine that gives her stability, she will begin to talk. But when I am gone, I want him there, to make sure she keeps the same stability. She may like me, but I suspect that at the first opportunity she will try to leave. The injuries and scars indicate a life of abuse that I will need to overcome if I am to gain her trust. Let Esme be gentle, and Emmett be fun, but I need someone who will be able to command obedience when I am not there, which is why I have selected Jasper to be her sitter.

I don't know how to explain this to my family, but my decision as coven master is my final. Now it is time to leave, to take this child back to Forks. In this world, I have the right take possession of this feral child and keep her with me, and I intend to do exactly that.

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	11. Chapter 11 - Arriving in Forks

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, which began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 11 – arriving in Forks

Day 6940 (July 2, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

We drove across country, and I slept in the peace and quiet, free from Vampireville noise. The desert gave way to mountains and then to forest. When I was awake, Carlisle told me a little about his family that I would soon be meeting, including the four he had changed, Edward, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, and the two who had joined them, Jasper and Alice.

Carlisle asked me my name, and I told him "99", as we use numbers for names on the colonies and in the Resistance. He didn't seem to like that, but hey, that's my name. The main reason vampires wanted your name is to put it on bills of sale or other paperwork regarding our captivity or slavery, and they generally wouldn't call us by name even if they knew it. So the free humans who lived in colonies used numbers. Also, back when the colonies were worried about captured members being questioned by vampires, numbers seemed a better way to protect individuals. Turns out, nobody was taking the resistance efforts seriously, so that precautionary step wasn't necessary. But it is nice to be able to give a short f-u to a vampire looking for something to put on a form.

I woke up to tall pine trees along the road. "We're almost home," said Carlisle with a smile as we passed a sign reading 'Welcome to Forks'.

We drove through a small town, just a one-road town it appears. I saw a gas station and a few stores, but it appeared mostly deserted. Carlisle made a quick phone call while I looked around. There were vampires on the streets, as I expected. Some turned to watch our passing car. We crossed quickly to the other side of town, and once again we were driving on a pine tree-lined road. Soon we turn off onto a private drive and pulled up to a stately, colonial style, three-story house.

"We have visitors today," he said. "My friends from Alaska, who also share my vegetarian diet, are here." He wrapped me back up in the blanket and carried me inside, holding me in a sitting position in one arm.

Inside were a TON of vampires. Every time I meet a vampire, the events of their change from human to vampire flash through my mind. This gift can almost be impairing in a crowded room, and this room was crowded. The vampress named Esme met us at the door, and then Carlisle was greeted by Edward and Jasper. Damn, but that looked like Jasper Whitlock, the one Carlisle is calling Jasper Hale. Carlisle continued to introduce the rest of the vampires in the room, including Carmen and Eleazar, Kate and Garrett, and Tanya, but it was getting to be a bit much for me.

I ducked my head into his shoulder, acting shy, while trying to sort through all the information flying at me from the individuals in the room. After all, vampire change events are seldom gentle experiences; most involve a violent, painful death. And in this crowd I am picking up scenes of battlefields, bear attacks, fires, leaps from cliffs, etc. Cripes, did anyone just get bit? So I feigned shyness, and Carlisle said he would take me upstairs to show me my room. I noticed immediately that this room did not have a direct exit into the hall, but only could be entered through his library. A stunning library, filled with books and artwork, dominated by a large desk across from a fireplace. And, perhaps most disturbing, a portrait of what appeared to be Carlisle as a member of the Volturi court hanging over that desk.

My cousins were starting to feed me information through our shared consciousness. Both Carlisle and Eleazar had spent decades with the Volturi. This doctor didn't seem so innocent now, with both his own history with the Volturi, and Jasper Whitlock sitting in the living room. What had I gotten myself into? Well, keep it together. There is a mind-reader in here, trying to get at my head, and that is not going to happen. Plus, on the sofa is a vampress in the early stages of the Blood Sickness. Maybe this will be interesting.

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	12. Chapter 12 - Life At Carlisle's

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, which began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the theme plot of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 12 - Life at Carlisle's – Daily Routine, and the Grizzly Bear newborn?

Day 6945, July 6 (5 days after arrival)

(Bella's POV)

Life settled into a daily routine at the Cullens. Every day I woke up with Carlisle in my room. He would walk me to the bathroom and wait outside while I had a human moment. Then he would come back in with clothes and change me out of my pajamas like I was a toddler, wash me, then put the new clothes on me. He favored knee length velvet dresses, with a lace border at the collar, sleeves, and hemline, paired with patterned tights and ballet flats. It was initially galling after being used to taking care of myself for years, and especially after having worn t-shirts, jeans, and either boots or sneakers, but this was my new life for now. I had never lived in a vampire household with a coven master before. The cousins told me that their vampires from the Home coven did the same thing with them each morning. This just seemed to be a male vampire way of taking care of "their" human. I decided to put up with it for a while and then eventually try to negotiate my way to having my morning routines in private. I had learned to pick my battles wisely, and this seemed a small thing while I was learning the new rules of this house.

We would then go downstairs to the kitchen, where Carlisle liked to prepare breakfast. He had placed standing orders for food to be delivered, but he and Esme quickly begin to fix breakfast foods themselves, including bacon with either pancakes or waffles. For lunch, he fixed sandwiches, and for dinner, food was delivered from the store. A lot of rich pastas, or other foods. I've never eaten so well or so often in my life. He was obviously trying to put some weight on me.

After that, the rest of the day was spent with him, either in his office, while he read and worked, or downstairs in front of the fireplace. As soon as I saw the fireplace, I went to lie down in front of it. Esme ordered some long triangular pillows from a catalogue that I could lean on or drape myself over and still stay comfortable while lying in the floor. I loved staring into the fireplace. No one expected you to talk or listen, so I could catch up on my cousins' chatter in my head. Filter through my memories and reconsider the events that lead to my being ordered to stand down by the Human Council.

At the end of the day, Carlisle would generally give me a bath then pull a chair up next to my bed and read to me from a book from his library. Right now he's reading Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. We talked, although mostly I asked him questions. I liked to know how people lived at any given time throughout history. So I asked him what they wore, what they did for a living, what they ate, etc. He described the lifestyles of the people around him over the centuries he had lived among them. He seemed to enjoy talking about his memories. Sometimes when I would wake up in the night, he would be lying on the bed next to me, other times he would be at his desk in his office in the adjoining room.

The rest of his family were quite regular visitors. Carlisle seemed happy with how his family seemed to be spending time together, which hadn't happened much since they moved into their separate houses years earlier. Actually, Jasper, Emmett and Edward were the most frequent visitors, since Rosalie only came because Emmett was here. Alice was more a resident then a visitor, lying on the sofa under a blanket. I decided that she must have been going home when I was asleep, because she had different outfits on every day.

Five days after my arrival, I finally felt rested enough to begin to engage the other members of the coven. I decided to talk to the big guy, Emmett, who was sitting on the sofa with Carlisle and I. I turned to Emmett, and asked, "So, what made you decide to become a vampire? Dig them red eyes?"

Emmett's eyes nearly bugged out at the question, but he started to smile, glancing at Carlisle to see if it was OK to talk to me.

I decided to try humor to draw him out. "Did you believe in vampires, before you became one? Most days I do believe in vampires, but sometimes I think, 'There's got to be a pill for this'. And then I realize, I'm sitting in a room with a doctor! Maybe this is the day room of a sanitarium. He's the doc in charge, so you and I must be patients. What are you in for?"

Emmett looked at Carlisle, and said, "Carlisle..?"

I decided to go for it. "I got it! You think you're a vampire, I believe in vampires, and he thinks he's going to get a paper out of us to present to the AMA (American Medical Association)! I can see Carlisle now at the reception after the yearly AMA convention, standing in a corner with a glass of sherry (which is he is discreetly pouring into the potted plants).

One of his colleagues approaches and asks how did he find two patients with such similar delusional thinking?

'Well, she was walking down the street, carrying a mallet and stakes, which could only mean one thing,' replies Carlisle.

'She was going to get some signboard and a marker to make Lost Puppy signs?' asks the colleague.

'No, she was looking for vampires to stake. And you know that just doesn't work'…(catches himself)…'I mean, stabbing humans, er, people, in the heart will kill them,' replies Carlisle. As for the male, er, young man, he was just too large. Most people that large have some weird ideas, er develop unusual ideation which no one corrects, so I just checked him to be sure, and discovered he thought he was a vampire."

'Oh', remarks the colleague.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking, wait, he's cold, and…he's one of them! He's a vampire! So I try to alert the room, "Help, he's a vampire", but Carlisle puts his hand over my mouth and begins to lead me out. I try to make the others in the room aware of the danger, making fang signs over my now covered mouth and pointing to him. He just sighs.

As we get outside, Carlisle sighs again, thinking, _Inconvenient time to have used valet parking, maybe I should just carry her over the rooftops and return for the car, but oh look who's standing next to us. ._ "Why, hello Director, lovely evening…"

Emmett started to laugh, and Carlisle smiled widely.

I turned back to Emmett. "But really, I interrupted your story. Please tell me what happened? Were you attacked in a dark alley or shady bar…?"

Emmett replied, "One day I was out hunting in the Appalachians near my cabin in Tennessee. I saw a grizzly bear and tried to shoot him, but my gun jammed…"

"Wait," I interrupt. "A grizzly bear did this to you? I thought Carlisle changed you. Was it Halloween, and Carlisle was in a bear costume, or on his way home from a lodge meeting perhaps? No – hold everything. Was there a grizzly bear vampire? Oh my gosh – a Grizzly Bear Vampire would make one bad ass newborn…"

Emmett turned to Carlisle and said softly, "Carlisle?"

Carlisle replied, "Get your own little human, this one is mine."

I kept my story going, as I was on a roll. "Now a grizzly bear newborn, that would get you dragged in front of Aro. I can see it now. 'Really,' Aro would say, steepling his fingers, 'a grizzly bear newborn. Jane?' And Jane would reply, 'Yes, Master?'

'Oh man,' you think, 'I'm in trouble now!'"

"But," I continue, "I can see how this could happen. You're out one night with your brothers in the forest, shoving each other, just having fun. And one of you comes up with a double-dog dare. 'Emmett, I double-dog dare you to change the next animal that comes along.'

Now, you aren't about to turn down a double-dog dare, but you want to make it dignified. 'OK,' you reply to your brother. 'But I want to keep some dignity; I'm not changing a worm or rat. It has to be a predator, larger than a rabbit.'

'Emmett's changing a fox,' yell your brothers.

And that is the most likely outcome, after all. So you guys keep walking, unitl you hear a rustling sound, and up pops grizzly bear, looking for some blueberries. So, you gotta bite the bear.

And then the three of you sit and wait. Naturally you ask them, 'You guys are going to help me with this, when the bear wakes up, right?' Oh, of course they say.

But when grizzly bear wakes up all newborn and vampire, growling, where are your brothers? Swoosh, up the nearest tree. Oh well, you've had limbs torn off before, wrestling with those guys, you'll patch yourself together. So you turn to face the newborn with a sigh.

And now, you're standing in front of Mr.-I-know-everything-when-I-touch-your-hand Aro himself! And he doesn't want to hear about a double- dog dare! So what are you going to do? Fill the space with words, of course! 'Oh, your glorious majesty, author of the true vampire world order, dispenser of justice, true defender of our vampire existence, he who can peer into the depths of souls to glimpse the truth, he whose depths of wisdom are unparralled, lord of…'

And Aro holds up his hand for you to stop. He turns to his brothers, and says, 'Seems our young friend is good with a title. New title, Caius?'

Caius replies, 'I've always liked Death Eater.'

'Suits you,' replies Aro. 'And you, Marcus, would you like a new title?'

Marcus just holds up his hand, and says, 'Nope, I'm good over here.'

Meanwhile the rest of the guard is shuffling their feet, thinking, _These meetings are going to take forever if everyone starts calling him by that long title._

But Aro knows he needs to continue. He may have let the incident where the Cape buffalo got changed slide, way back when, after all that was an incident during a bachelor party, but he's going to have to come down hard this time…"

By now, Emmett was cracking up, and even Jasper was trying to hide a smile.

So I continued. "But I interrupted you again. What happened, how did you get changed?"

So Emmett related how he was attacked by the bear and thought he was dying, but then heard what he thought was a second bear fighting the first bear. But the second party wasn't a bear; it was a woman who appeared to be an angel, who carried him to God.

"You met God?" I asked.

"The angel was Rosalie, and God turned out to be Carlisle. They changed me in order to save me from dying, and I've been here ever since."

"And the angel gets more beautiful by the day?" I asked.

"Yes, she does," sighed Emmett.

And I smiled; I was making headway in this household. Maybe this would work out, somehow.

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	13. Chapter 13 - Rules Crazy Chick Nomad

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, which began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 13 –Some of the Rules, and Crazy Chick Nomad

(Bella's POV)

Jasper and Emmett were outside putting up a fence around the back of the house. A six-foot high, black metal fence with decorative spears on the top, with bars spaced 4 inches apart. Honestly, Carlisle couldn't think that would keep me in, after all the chasing around steam tunnels we did in Chicago. But the Rules say that houses with humans have to have a fence if the human is to be allowed outside. At least Carlisle has the sense to not try to make me wear a collar, which is another one of the Rules, because I will be gone the day that happens. And humans are supposed to wear collars 24/7. I guess I shouldn't complain about that one external nod to the rules which he made by putting up the fence.

Carlisle has ignored the more critical Rules that impact daily life. After all, he has always spoken to me in a human language, which is forbidden Rules. The cops modified the Rules to add a little gem about humans not being allowed to sit on furniture as vampires; people have to sit in kind of modified doggy bed style pieces if they are to sit in the same room as vampires. Carlisle always gestures for me to sit with him, and the other vampires always rise when I enter the room, just as they do with Esme.

So they fenced a large area of the back yard in accordance with the Rules, but with this style fence, you can still see the view off the back porch that lines the back of the house. But I want to go out further. I can see trees, and they tell me there is a spectacular view of the river valley from behind the house.

I got Emmett and Jasper to take me outside with them daily, and I ride on their backs while they climb trees. When I was in the wilderness vampires were always up in trees, and I wanted to know what that was like. I could climb around in the lower branches on my own but could never go really high. Emmett was the first to take me up a tree, and when Carlisle realized how much I liked it, he started to climb the high trees with me on his back.

The trees and forest reminded me of the early days of my freedom, after I first got out, before I found my first colony.

-FLASHBACK-

I escaped the Human Containment Facility because a mind reading guard felt he wasn't paid enough. He heard a plan by one of the human men to lead an escape in an effort to keep some of the teenaged girls who were approaching forced breeding age from being made to bear and raise children as vampire food.

So the guard set up a phony escape by playing with a door in front of the man, acting as though the door wasn't shutting without extra effort, laughing to himself as the man pretended not to watch. On the night of the escape, the guard arranged doors so that there was a way to get from the men's cells to the women's via the common washing facilities. Once inside the wash facilities, he left a service entrance door from the shower room to the outside. He then waited outside in the woods for whoever made it that far.

I was nearly asleep when I heard a whisper to "Come now". My mother and I got up with the other two girls who slept close to us. We followed this man in the semi dark to the back of the bathroom to an area we had never entered. There, a door gave way, and we were outside.

The light was blinding outside, it instantly burned my eyes. I had to them and could only look down at my feet. The air was terribly cold, colder even than the water that came out of the showers before it warmed up. Even the ground was cold on my bare feet, but I ran when Mother gave my hand a tug. As I started to run, I heard a door close behind me, followed by the sound of another door opening, so we knew we had been spotted. Our leader, whose name I did not know, gestured for my mother and me to head for some trees, while he slid down a hill with the other two girls. I had never seen the sky, trees, or grass, or anything outside of my cell block. But all of that now was secondary to running.

Initially I didn't recognize the objects she had signed to me as trees. I had heard trees had green leaves on them, but these were just brown and scraggly. When we made it to the trees, we saw the guard. We assumed we had been caught, so we stopped running but took a step towards him in despair. He grabbed both of us and latched on to my mother's throat, biting her then sucking. I held her hand, eventually feeling her pulse as it faded to nothing. The last words formed on her lips, which couldn't be spoken, were my name. We both thought I was next.

When she was dead, the vampire tossed her body on the ground like the clothing we shed once a week in the wash room. I grabbed her body and was trying to hold on to her, when I felt something under her body, a long rock, so I pulled it close to me. The guard grabbed me roughly, picking me up and running at what felt like lightning speed.

My senses remained aware, but I felt myself slide away from my body. It was as if I was viewing it everything from above. The vampire entered a structure and eventually a small room, similar to the washing facilities in the Human Containment Facility. He put me in some kind of a cold stone container, which he filled with water. Two other vampires came into the room, and they all looked and poked at me. I could feel the water and their hard fingers, but it was as if it was happening to someone else.

"Is this all you got?" asked one.

"Yeah, the night guards caught the other two girls," said the guard.

"Well, you're not going to get much from the brothel for this one, look how bony she is."

"I know. I was planning to grab three girls, which would have helped towards the down payment on that new car I want," replied the guard.

"Tell you what," said the third vampire. "I'll give you $50 for this one."

The guard answered "No, the brothels will still give me something, she's virgin".

"Ok, I'll give you $100"…

This exchange continued over the evening, with the vampire raising his offer by $50 increments until the he reached $350.

"You don't have $350" snapped the guard to the third vampire.

"I'll pay you back next pay day, I promise. Just give her to me, I'll get rid of the body as well," the third vampire countered.

"Be sure to do that," said the second vampire, "with looks like that, you don't want her getting turned by mistake."

They left the room. The water was getting cold, and I started to slide down. As I slid down, the water soon covered my head, entering my mouth and my lungs. I didn't care; it was easier not to breathe. But the guard came back in and dragged me back up into a sitting position where I was leaning forward.

"What's wrong with her?" the two vampires asked.

"She's scared of me" replied the guard.

_Oh no I'm not_, I thought, but it was too much trouble to care. Not breathing was so much get easier, and pictures were starting to fill my mind, blocking out this reality.

The second vampire said "I think she's in shock. You may need to call the doctor."

"I can't do that. He works at the Facility, he'll recognize her and know she isn't mine" snapped the guard.

"Well, there is this crazy chick nomad in town right now, she's a bit wild but was supposed to have been an EMT for an ambulance company when she was human. She may be cheaper than a doctor anyway, so why don't you call her?" suggested the third vampire.

By now I wasn't seeing anything around me. I was floating somewhere else. There were strange pictures, in brilliant colors I had never seen before, running through my head. Images of swords, fires, men and vampires in strange clothes, and some of the clothes appeared to be made of metal. There were large four-legged creatures that the men rode, and huge buildings in shapes unlike anything I had heard of from my mother and her friends. There was a lot of fighting, between men and men, and men and vampires, where the men were armed with various long metal objects. Nothing really made sense, I just watched the pictures.

After a while, I noticed the same man, or boy, appeared in many of these fights. He had black hair and used a long slender weapon, unlike the swords that Mother used to trace images of on my leg when she told me stories. He appeared to be fighting vampires, and after a while, my body began to feel as if was moving with his. The image of his fights kept appearing, over and over, including one fight that he lost.

My dreams were interrupted as I began to hear some kind of yelling beside me, then a voice next to me. _Go away_, I thought. Someone was patting me, touching me, pinching me. Now that must be a human, as no vampire had ever pinched me. A vampire's touch brought only pain. Maybe I needed to wake up, maybe this had been a dream, and my mother would be next to me.

So I opened my eyes, only to see bright red ones in front of me.

"Hello, beautiful you", a voice cooed.

It had been a vampire trick, there was no human out there. So I started to slip back out, hearing, "No, don't leave me, come back", accompanied by little slaps and pinches. Finally she was so annoying I opened my eyes in order to glare at whoever this annoying vampire was. I saw that she had shoulder length blonde hair and a concerned look on her face. She was about my size, making her much smaller that the vampire guards I had seen all my life.

"Stay with me, I'm going to show you something that will make it worth your while," she whispered.

She called out in Vampiri, and the guard came to stand over me. I quickly shrank back, I knew this had been a vampire trick, designed to get me to come out of my dream state.

"Look at her chin, do you see that spot? If you don't get that treated, the brothels won't take her, it's a symptom of a contagious skin disease," said the strange vampress to the guard.

The guard mumbled something in Vampiri but leaned over me.

In a flash, she had climbed his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. She grasped his head in both hands, then twisted it off.

_Wow, this was worth staying awake for_, I thought, just as she had promised. She pulled off his arms, one at a time, and threw them in something at the end of the bed, which turned out to be a fire in a fireplace.

Then she turned to me. "Hello, beautiful you. My name is Wenda. We're getting out of here."

"Are you the one they were calling Crazy Chick Nomad?" I asked.

"Guess so, and you know I like the sound of that. So call me Crazy. And I have someplace I want to show you". After saying that, she picked me up, jumped out the window, and drove us to what became our favorite place.

END FLASHBACK

But now, back to the present and to that fence. A fence with bars spaced four inches apart is easy to scale. You can hook your foot inside the bars and shimmy your way up, without a rope. When I was in training in the Resistance, we practiced climbing walls carrying another person on our shoulder, in case we ever needed to carry someone over a wall during a liberation mission. Kind of insulting, this fence. But that's ok – I can get over it if I ever need to.

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	14. Chapter 14 - Family Tensions Blood 1

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, which began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 14 – Family Tensions, and the Blood Sickness

(Bella's POV)

As time went on, Carlisle seemed to relax more around me. He started leaving the house and going back to his rounds as a doctor. Whenever he was gone, Jasper would be with me. Whether it was Jasper or Carlisle, I was never out of a vampire's sight. The daily routine continued to solidify.

Esme, Carlisle's wife, was always warm and wonderful. She had caramel hair and a heart shaped face, and she made the house feel like home. She made such a fuss over me, talking to me, playing with my hair, trying to draw me out. She seemed to like cooking, and she liked to have me sit with her in the kitchen while she cooked, trying out baking with the limited ingredients Mrs. Miniver's store could supply. She was regularly getting milk, butter and eggs, and was starting to get flour and sugar. She bustled around the house, singing as she went. I wanted to get involved in something, I was kind of getting bored, but she wouldn't let me clean anything but my room.

Often during the day, I would fuss around Carlisle's office, pretending to dust. I knew he liked that I spent time in his office when he was out, as all that fussing around distributed my scent. He would keep the house shut up to keep my scent in when he was there. It was one of the things that was not discussed between us, it wasn't normal for a human to know how good they smelled.

Whenever he was home, he kept me next to him. If he was on the sofa, I was at his side. If I was in front of the fireplace, lounging on a pillow, he would be on the other side. And if there was company, he became protective, curling me onto his chest for a nap, and sometimes even carrying me from room to room.

Emmett, the tall, muscular son with short, curly hair, brought life and energy into the house. He would come roaring in, lifting me into the air, and swinging me around. He had gradually relaxed around me and obviously liked having a playmate. We would go outside, and he would run through the trees with me clinging to him like a gibbon.

When Edward, the boy vampire with the bronze hair, would come in, that was more difficult for me. The human experiences would be dripping off of him from his day at work. I was exposed to all of the feelings of the twenty women and girls from the cell block he was assigned to, the fear and despair of the adults, the boredom of the children. On days when he walked through the entire facility, or dealt with something in another unit, I could have another forty to sixty human feelings radiating off of him. The days when he used his cattle prod on someone or escorted a girl to the breeding rooms were the hardest. He would sit across from me, frustrated he couldn't read my mind, but obviously finding my presence somewhat relaxing. I wanted nothing to do with him but tried not to let my feelings show, as he was Carlisle's first and favorite child.

The fear and pain that came radiating off of him on those days infuriated me, but I had to hide my feelings, as I had not revealed my "gift" to the coven. In addition to being able to see certain human moments from any vampire, especially their change event, I also picked up the feelings of the humans from a vampire's latest contacts with people. In most cases, I was bombarded by their latest human contact, as the feelings that had generally attached themselves to the vampire in this world, such as pain and fear, were strong and negative. This was a "gift" I often wished I could return, but I was stuck with it. The Human Council had asked that those with gifts dedicate them to the Resistance, but they understood that a human might use their gift to get preferential treatment with vampires. Often that meant getting changed, which in this world might seem the best option to one who had grown up in the oppressive living death camps. To be a vampire meant to be top of the food chain and be one of the masters of this world, even as one became the oppressor. But some of us thought that staying human and resisting was important.

The vampire named Rosalie would flounce in when Emmett stayed too long. She had obviously been beautiful as a human, with her blonde hair and a lovely figure. She would take a position on a sofa next to the vampire named Alice, thumb through magazines, or hiss to Alice in the vampire language Vampiri. Neither of them spoke to me in human, so I did not address them by name or speak to them at all. They clearly thought I was putting Carlisle and Esme in danger, as Carlisle was not acting according to the Rules set out by Aro and the cops for humans. He dressed me in nice clothing instead of the coarse undyed cotton garments that were sold for $1.50 at the Pet supply stores. While this wasn't breaking a rule, they felt it was dangerously close to treating a human like a person, not a property maintained as a food source. And, even more dangerous in their eyes, Carlisle didn't make me wear a collar, he spoke to me in human, allowed me to sit on the furniture, and wanted me to call him by his name. Each of those actions broke a Rule, and was punishable by removal or death of the human, or possibly even the death of the vampire.

The two girls were convinced that the cops would be paying a visit, and it would not be friendly. The entire family present at the time could be placed in jeopardy. Alice had lost her first human years ago by treating her like a friend, and when the cops came and find five Rule violations, they had torn the girl apart and beaten Alice. They could have killed Alice, but they didn't. Instead they tore her apart and threw her limbs on her front yard for the entire city to see. The family had to come and reassemble her, as the chicken-shit cops had waited for Jasper to be out of town before they dared to take such an action.

Of course, the vampress called Alice was my biggest challenge. She was a small vampress, with spiky black hair, who was clearly suffering from the early stages of the Blood Sickness. I had never seen a case this early before. She was having stomach cramps, numbness in her hands and feet, and was constantly cold. The Blood Sickness was the very reason the Insurgency would work.

All those stories about humans whose blood was toxic to vampires turned out to be true. There are humans whose blood can kill a vampire, and I was living proof.

One day in Cleveland I knew a tracker was getting close. I hightailed it to a parking garage along the river and waited. He had a friend with him, and the friend was hungry. But a female teenager was a payday to a tracker, so I wasn't worried about the friend. Big mistake.

The two appeared across the parking garage. Suddenly one of the vampires was on me, with his teeth sunk into my throat. I could hear his guzzling and sighing and could feel the cold weight of his body pinning me to the column. Before I could push him off and defend myself, he was suddenly yanked off of me.

The tracker had yanked him off and thrown him across the garage. I was trying to breathe, wondering if I should thank the tracker, when the tracker leaned over me and starting licking at my neck himself. He licked the blood slowly and luxuriously at first, then started pressing on my neck, with his tongue darting and pulling at something on my neck.

Ew, first bitten, and now being licked! This day was NOT going well.

Suddenly the tracker stopped licking. He looked up at me, and I noticed his eyes were glazing over so that they were no longer red, but were turning white. He started to reach for me but fell to the ground. I grabbed my neck and watched. The tracker sat up slowly, looking both dazed and blind, trying to stare at his hands. After about a half a minute, he slowly fell forward so that he was lying across his legs.

The other vampire was still also, laying in much the same position as the tracker, but across the garage where he had been thrown.

They were both dead – or rather, double dead, since they had to die to become vampires, right? I got out my lighter and set fire to both bodies to be sure they stayed "dead", then jumped into my car and took off. This was weird, and something to report to the Human Council.

-TO BE CONTINUED –

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	15. Chapter 15 - Blood Sickness Travels

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 15 – the Blood Sickness (continued); and Travels with Crazy Chick Nomad

(Bella's POV) – Continuation of Bella's memory of her attack in a Cleveland garage

_They were both dead – or rather, double dead, since they had to die to become vampires, right? I got out my lighter and set fire to both bodies to be sure they stayed "dead", then jumped into my car and took off. This was weird, and something to report to the Human Council. _

I contacted the Human Council about the vampires who died after drinking my blood. They called me in for a full report and decided to run a verifying test. They wanted to give my blood to a vampire to observe the reaction. Eventually, my blood was drawn and passed to an ally to give to a human drinker in a glass. The vampire who drank it died within a minute as well.

It seemed the old stories were true. There were humans whose blood was toxic to vampires. But how had I lived on the living death camp for so long? Wouldn't any vampires in the area who bought and drank the bottled blood have died? Why hadn't anyone noticed?

The Council did some research, and that's when they discovered that since the collapse of the human populations in Europe, Africa and Asia due to the lack of young human females, blood was being exported from the U.S. For this purpose, all the blood from all the Human Containment Facilities was pooled before being bottled, as a single export. Therefore little amounts of my blood were in many bottles. The only question was how to use this information.

The humans asked the allies about sick vampires and learned that there were vampires who were starting to die, a slow process taking several years. The Council was able to get a few sick vampires to come to them with the promise that perhaps they could find an antidote. They studied them and took histories. What they found was that the afflicted vampires slowly became lethargic and eventually went blind and stopped moving. But when the mind readers scanned their thoughts, they found that the blood thirst was still raging inside. Days after their sight went, a mind reader could poke the vampire or whisper their name, and the vampire's mind would respond, but the blood thirst had become their all-consuming thought and torture, as there was no longer a way to physically satisfy their need. The internal organs of their former human body used to process and circulate the foreign blood had now broken down. The vampire was doomed to exist for an unknown length of time, suffering from an insatiable thirst, as the hardness of the former body was now serving as an impermeable shell, a prison.

I noticed that I saw certain things differently than others. Ever since I had been free and been able to view vampires in true light, I had been able to see a vampire's original, human eye color behind the red (or black) hue they took on after their change. I had noticed that most of their eyes also had a sparkling blue tint, starting at the bottom of their irises and encircling the pupil. The amount of blue in their eyes varied.

Then one day I saw bottled blood. The bottled blood also had the same blue glint in small amounts. We came to realize that what I was seeing was MY blood, whether it appeared in the bottles or in the vampires' eyes. This was unsettling, but there was a war going on for survival, so I pushed down my squeamishness. My blood apparently "broke up" like crystals and glinted in a vampire's eyes after being consumed, though I was the only one who could see it. Eventually it was determined that what was happening was that once my blood entered a vampire's body, it would break down into crystals and begin destroying the organs that processed the blood. In effect, the vampire "starved" to death. If the blood was taken in little at a time, by drinking bottled blood, the process was slow. The vampress Alice was an example of this. If the vampire took a few big gulps, the death occurred within a minute, like the tracker in the Cincinnati garage.

One of my assignments for the Human Council became to travel and see how widely dispersed my blood was, both within the vampire population and within the stores carrying the bottled blood. Crazy Chick Nomad heard I was traveling and decided she would come along, bringing Future Mate. And travel we did! Whenever we hooked up she wanted to show me historic sights, to show me the creations of us "humans", who were supposed to be below vampires. She liked taking me to historic sites, or to modern cities, to point out the skyscrapers, statues, or any other human creation.

Crazy always said, "This is your stuff Baby, people stuff. We vampires should be moldering in the grave, with worms crawling in an out our ears and eye sockets. Instead, we're up here, taking your cars and technology, your beautiful clothes, your houses, and worst, taking you. We've locked you up and turned you into slaves, yet we as vampires create nothing. We only take, we're parasites, Baby. And we've got a big Karma kick in the a** coming for this!"

Wherever we traveled in the U.S., she always stopped at historic sites. At Monticello, she found the guidebooks, and we toured the property, taking pictures of one other in front of the various features described in the guidebooks, acting like traditional tourists. We did this wherever we went when we were together.

So when it came time for me to go to travel overseas for the Council, she wanted to travel with me on my research trip to Europe, Africa, and Asia. As always, she had the papers on me she had ordered.

"You're a people, not a pet," she always said.

The papers were made out in her favorite cat's name, Madeleine. "The cat was about the same age as you are now, Baby, 14 years old". Whenever the cops wanted something, she gave them information based on the cat. "Take that, a**hole", she always quipped after they let us pass.

The "best" part of going to Europe was, of course, the plane ride. Crazy got some friends to act as muscle. They entered the airline terminal with us then stared down the rest of the passengers, and "suggested" they get on different flight. After they tore the hands off of the first vampire who tried to show he had a valid ticket on our flight, the other passengers decided switching flights didn't sound so bad.

So we all got on the plane, Crazy, myself, and Crazy's friends. And, the pilot. The pilot hadn't been part of her plan, so sure enough, my scent got to him. Suddenly Crazy and I were alone in the passenger compartment.

"What's going on," I asked. "And please don't say 'it's nothing'".

"Well…the pilot wanted to come back for an 'introduction' to you. Seems he put the plane on autopilot now that we've taken off and assumed our course. So the others in the cockpit with him, making promises to him that would make the devil blush, if he'll just stay in his seat and fly the plane", she replied.

I took this calmly, of course. "What! I knew it, we're gonna crash at sea. You guys will survive, but I won't. So just do it, just kill me!"

"No, no, baby, it's going to be alright. Look, I brought a bottle of champagne for your first flight! I was going to open it as we landed, but now seems like a really good time." She opened the bottle with a loud pop, then poured me a glass into one of those plastic cups that airlines keep in their pantry. The champagne foamed up and ran over the side of the glass, soaking her hand, and making Crazy giggle. "Have a taste!"

I drained the glass quickly and held it out for a refill, sneezing from the bubbles.

One of Crazy's vampire friends chose this moment to come out of the cockpit and ask if I can please stop saying, 'I'm gonna die so just kill me', as that is not helping their situation with the captain and his thirst. Crazy held up the champagne bottle, he nodded in understanding and returned to the cockpit.

Hours passed, I finished the bottle of champagne, and soon Crazy was saying "Look, Baby, there's the west coast of England. There's land!"

We landed, and I swore I was never getting on a plane again. I'm explained in great detail to Crazy that from now on , I was going to live on THIS side of the Pacific.

Crazy advised, "No, Baby, you don't want to live here. The Italian influence is everywhere, so you just don't want to do that."

"If you mean the Volturi, of course they're everywhere," I snapped back.

"No Baby, I mean the Italian male influence. The Volturi brothers are Etruscan. Italians are dominating, possessive, just a real hassle to have around. You don't want that." Crazy explained.

"I thought all male vampires were dominating and possessive," I retorted, puzzled.

"Well, they are, but Italians are the worst. And their influence has spread all over Europe, so now even the Swedish vampires are acting like jerks. If only for that reason, we don't want to live here. These boys are great to date but not to keep around for any length of time. Let's just do your survey for your human friends and head home," she said, settling back into her seat in the car.

I looked to Future Mate, he just shrugged. She isn't ending up with any Italian, she'll be with him. His shrug said it all. As for where they lived, he didn't care, as long as they were together.

Outside of Bath, England, we were joined by a British vampire named Alistair. Alistair was way too interested in me. So Crazy picked me up and carried me, and made carrying the maps my job. Every time Alistair got a little too close to me, Future Mate would give his "back away from my mate" growl, and Alistair would step back.

And so we began our travel across Europe, with Alistair acting as our inescapable shadow. Crazy periodically updated me as to how much Alistair had offered for me, and she also wanted to order me a "Tua Cantante" (singer) t-shirt. Future Mate wouldn't hear of the t-shirt.

As far as Future Mate was concerned, Alistair's presence, while a problem, did simplify security issues for him. We could now go into the major cities, as Alistair, who appeared to be a skilled fighter, handled all the stranger vampires who got too close, so Future Mate only had to watch Alistair. And Alistair was very effective in this security detail – I had to admit, his snarl and lunge were truly impressive.

Occasionally, Alistair would get his venom and thirst for me under control, and offered his own stories about the history of some of the cities we visited. He obviously found it odd that Crazy and Future Mate talked to me and treated me with care and affection, but he adjusted so that he could stay with us. He told great stories about the construction of St. Paul's in London and also about any number of the cathedrals and other sites we pass through England, France, and Germany. It's just too bad all he wanted was to suck me dry. Them's the breaks in this world, I guess.

In Paris, they managed to sneak me into the Louvre. The three vampires went running through at vampire speed, Crazy carrying me, only pausing only to show me their favorite works. A few works by Tintoretto, Rembrandt, and some Assyrian and Egyptian pieces. The Volturi brothers had taken all the Italian pieces back to Volterra, and while they ordered the rest of the collection left intact, there had been quite a few vampire "mine" stunts, when a vampire decided he wanted something and just took it. If he could manage to bribe the guards, he might get away with it. If they didn't accept his bribe, he was turned over to the Paris cops. Or, if the vampire took a piece a guard wanted, the guard might kill him and take the piece home for himself. The laws of the vampire world didn't really have much to say about vampires killing other vampires. It was the vampire way. Death, death, and more death. The most serious penalties of the vampire legal coded involved the handling of humans humanely, as in treating us as something other than disposable property.

When we got to Italy, Future Mate insisted we should see the Sistine Chapel. Getting into the Vatican proved a challenge, but they managed.

Crazy, of course, grumbled about how, "Stupid and short-sighted vampires are, keeping you guys out of religious places. Surely they could put some humans in here, maybe get them to pray for us?"

Since my friends couldn't turn the lights without attracting attention, they rigged some scaffolds, and got me close to the Michelangelo's mural on the ceiling. "Look Baby, there's God!" squealed Crazy enthusiastically, holding me as we dangled from the scaffolding.

I could only see God's eye, and it was really huge, and then I saw the floor below. And to me it appeared to be a long, long way below us. Alistair was determined that I wouldn't fall. He couldn't bear the thought of my blood being wasted on marble, so he is swinging directly below us on some cable lines.

This was not a pleasant experience, and Future Mate promised he would bring me back after the Insurgence.

By the time we reach Florence, Italy, Alistair was getting a little too impatient. I was getting tired of being carried, so I declared that I would walk up any and all staircases we encountered, and Alistair decided to capitalize on this little act of rebellion on my part. Future Mate, who is a mindreader, picked up Alistair's plan to grab me at the top of one of these staircases, wrap me in a curtain, and jump out a window during a trip to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

So we ditched him through a series of human-needs-bathroom moments and lost him in a decorative garden.

We didn't go for the obvious airport knowing Alistair might be waiting there, so Crazy and Future Mate chartered a plane to get us out of Florence and down to Casablanca. The next few days were spent trying to outmaneuver Alistair. He had a lot more resources to use to track us down. They have a pretty good idea of his net worth. "Baby, he offered us $1.5MM in cash and his ancestral home for you. His offer was simple. We would go to his house in the English countryside where he would sign over the property to us in front of witnesses. All we had to do was let him walk out with you at the conclusion of the deal," Crazy told me. So we knew that Alistair had money.

Future Mate, on the other hand, had taken a vow of poverty as a human when he was a monk, and the habit of living without material things had stuck to him in afterlife. Crazy, on the other hand, knew exactly what money was for: she spent it every time she got it. So while we could not match Alistair's resources in tracking our progress, we managed to stay ahead of him by running on foot between airports and getting friends to buy tickets in their names that we could use.

Eventually we completed our tour of Africa and went into India. There things got less pleasant for me. Naturally, I was coated in both sunblock and mosquito repellent. Crazy had heard of some parasite that would enter the human body through the soles of the feet, so she was determined to carry me everywhere. As she was still worried about mosquitoes, she tore down some mosquito netting from a bed, wrapped me in it, and tied it into a knot at the bottom. I looked like I had just been "bagged" on a hunt.

As a result, when Future Mate started picking out our next destination, Sri Lanka, I put my foot down. I told them I wanted to go back to the U.S.. Disneyland would be enough for me. Future Mate did feel sorry for my sunblock soaked, mosquito net draped condition, so he chartered a flight home.

Crazy was very excited about the flight home and told me she had a secret she would only tell on board the plane. It would involve why this upcoming trans-Pacific flight would be different from the terrifying trans-Atlantic flight, when the pilot decided he wanted to snack out on me.

Once on board, we met the pilot. The human pilot, a former air force pilot who had been sheltered by his vampire Commanding Officer since the Event in 2020. Hooray!

Hooray until the West Coast of the United States was in sight. Then they told me that, being human, the pilot couldn't land at a standard airport with vampire air traffic control. They would know he wasn't a vampire. So the pilot was going to fly south and land on a freeway that had bedrock underneath.

"Won't this be exciting!" squealed Crazy.

"We're all going to die," was all I could choke out. Crazy started pouring the champagne again. We did land safely on a freeway somewhere in Oklahoma, and once I got off the plane, I rolled onto the ground, grabbed a piece of grass, and swore I would never get up again.

"You're right next to a cow pie," remarked Crazy, watching me with interest.

"That's ok with me, cow pies are on the ground, they are of the earth, earth to earth, dust to dust…" I had lost it, and was babbling. The champagne didn't help.

But eventually I got up, and went and prepared my report for the Human Council. We had been traveling primarily in heavily populated areas of Europe, Africa, and India. All the vampires I saw on the street had traces of the tainted blood, and all the bottles on the store shelves also appeared tainted. It seemed the U.S. distribution system had spread the tainted blood worldwide. I had not gone into Russia or China, so samples were bought from stores in cities large and small and brought to me for visual examination. The same blue tint appeared in all. Although there were undoubtedly small pockets of vampires who hadn't been exposed in remote areas, it appeared my blood had been distributed worldwide during the thirteen years I was on the living death camp. Aro's perfect blood delivery system was going to doom his vampire world.

The human council estimated that even if a vampire had only had a single dose, their death would occur in 15-20 years, which was short in the lifetime of an immortal. Vampires who used the bottled blood as their sole food source appeared to be already dying. Those vampires who had kept blood slaves, and so only used the bottled blood as a supplemental food source, probably had an estimated 7-10 years left.

It also appeared that I could accelerate the process, to cause a vampire who had ingested the blood to die within a minute, just as if they had just drank two full gulps of my blood. The Council wanted me to do further work on this aspect of what they now considered my "gift". My raids as freedom fighter, liberating the brothel girls, gave me ample opportunity to explore this aspect of my gift. It was discovered I could accelerate the process over a given geographic area by concentrating. I started with a single location, such as the brothel building we were liberating, and then enlarged it to cover the area around a colony. Soon I was protecting several colonies at all times, which took concentration, but allowed me to build up my endurance. In this way I began to test and push the limits on my gift.

The Human Council began to work out a plan to free all the humans, with the goal of training them to live independently. They wanted to replant crops, which would take several seasons, and get livestock back to levels that would support a healthy human population. There was already housing in place, as vampires were living in houses, but the Council believed that initially, they would place the humans who had grown up in captivity in apartment buildings, so they could relearn life skills in a group setting.

These were heady times for the Resistance.

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	16. Chapter 16 - The Doll Arrives

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 16 - The Doll arrives at the Cullens

Day 6986 (August 16, 2039)

One rainy day, Esme had just come in from grocery shopping. I had heard her car pull into the garage, and then her soft footsteps enter the kitchen. So I went in to nose around, and there, on top of the eggs, was the doll my mother had made for me. I froze at the sight of it.

"Honey, would you like this doll? I saw it at the store, and picked it up," Esme said, as she unpacked the groceries.

"Yes", I stammered out, barely able to control my fury. Someone had touched my doll, someone including Esme had touched my doll. I picked the doll up gently and went into the living room.

"Hey, little one! Esme bring you something good from the store?" asked Emmett.

I managed to choke out, "Yes, this little doll," and then I sat down in front of the fire. I gently turned her in my hands, and breathed a sigh of relief as I could see no signs of damage. The cousins quickly forwarded a message from an Ally through our shared consciousness.

"Did you like getting your doll?" the ally asked.

"How dare you touch my doll! How did you find, her, she was in a safe house," I snarled. It was a struggle keeping a calm face for the Cullens as I shot this message back to him through my cousins.

"Don't be that way," he said soothingly. "You've been in there for weeks, so I sent in your doll. I went into the store and set the doll on a book rack Esme always pauses at. I watched from across the store as Esme picked up your doll and then walked up to the check out counter. I made sure she left with it. Mrs. Miniver didn't miss a beat. The doll wasn't part of her inventory, but she flipped the doll over and charged Esme $10 for her."

I lost it then inside, still keeping a blank face for the Cullens. I raged at the ally, "you m-f, you will be lucky if your hands are the only thing I rip off of you when I see you. And that hag Miniver dies as well. She didn't pay a dime for the original inventory of that store she took over after the Resistance. She just added a few things, like changing out the bottled water for bottled blood, keeping the same Coke refrigerated containers. And now she charged for my doll. She's dead!"

The ally came back with, "Do you want me to kill her tonight?"

"No," I answered calming down. "Miniver acts as a snitch regularly and has already made two reports on humans to the cops, trying to show she is a good citizen. The two reports that the cops acted on mean that the next report leads to her death. Wait to get verification that it is her call that sends out the cops, then kill her."

That was the correct way. The Human Council did not want any resistance fighters involved in revenge killings. They had decreed that we could not free individual humans, which put blood slaves off limits for liberation, or fight individual vampires, except in self-defense. If a fight was needed, send an ally. There were more allies than free human fighters, and not only would an ally not be noticed, they had a better shot at surviving the fight.

The Council had also decreed that we would not act in revenge. The Insurgence would have two goals: to liberate all humans from vampire captivity and to reinstate human law. There would be no vengeance killings; all was to be left for the trials after the insurgence. Every surviving vampire would stand trial for their actions involving humans from the date of the event to the date of the insurgency.

Their goal was to ensure that the Resistance fighters would not become revenge driven and inflict painful deaths. Almost any vampire who had hurt an individual probably had hurt many humans. The council wanted to see these vampires to go on trial so all human survivors would have a chance to give their testimony, whether for themselves or for their families. The council did not see a road to closure otherwise. They did not want to see the resistance fighters becoming psychologically or morally damaged by inflicting revenge deaths. They wanted all humans to have chance to be at peace with themselves, and be able to find their place in the post-Insurgence world.

The mind readers had begun a thorough scan of the houses containing blood slaves in preparation for the Insurgency, and those people who were being badly abused, including physical or sexual abuse, were being slowly liberated. The allies would kill the vampire owner, usually making it look like a fight after a car accident or some other trivial incident that lead to a fight. The ally would go to the house after killing the vampire, get the human and take them to a colony.

The allies were also dealing with the cops' snitches. Many vampires were acting as snitches, making reports to the cops about humans who were not being treated according to the rules. Some reports were true, some were trumped up to create trouble for the vampire owner. If the cops acted on the report, and a human was removed or injured, the allies would move in. Mrs. Miniver had been reporting her neighbors and was about due for an action by the allies. Her days were numbered, and she would only survive until the cops acted on her next snitch call. When a cop went out on it, the allies would take her out.

When it became clear I was staying in Forks with the Cullens, several allies had been posted to Forks and taken up positions at the edge of town between Forks and the Cullen house. If the cops ever passed their post, the allies would follow. If the cops turned down the Cullen driveway, the allies were to attack and rip them to shreds before ever actually reaching the house.

Meanwhile, back at the Cullen house, I looked around until I found a white towel to wrap my doll in. She had been made from a scrap of my mother's wedding dress, and I wanted her to stay clean.

Jasper noticed how much care I was taking with the doll. "That's a nice little doll you have there, darlin'," he drawled.

"My mother made it for me," I replied. "She made it from a scrap of her wedding dress. The belt is from the flower girl's bouquet and the button eyes were once the buttons on my grandmother's boots. Part of my mother's wedding veil is inside, inside of the quilting material used as stuffing. That's why she doesn't bend, and why she kind of 'crinkles' when you handle her".

I was going to continue when Rosalie cut in from her throne on the love seat, making her snarky remark in Vampiri: "Esme found that rag doll today at Mrs. Miniver's. She's being absurd."

She had said it so quietly, that I barely heard her, but the mind reader relayed the crack. I waited to see if anyone would either say something to her or ask me to continue. When neither happened, I wrapped up my doll. I'm not going to try to convince anyone of my true stories; I just won't waste my time.

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	17. Chapter 17 - Char & Peter Isaiah

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 17 - Charlotte and Peter

Day 7002 (September 1, 2039)

(Bella's POV)

Carlisle was starting to keep "doctor's hours" again. He was generally at work more than he was home. Often times the only time I saw him was when he came in at night while I was sleeping. I always woke up when he entered my room, no matter how late it was, or how quiet he was. He would usually be sitting in his chair by the time I as fully awake, but I could tell he had been lying next to me on the bed at some point in the night.

As a result, I was spending most of my time with Jasper. This was not something I would ever have anticipated, as he was in the top ten enemies of the Human Council, for his part in the Gathering.

Jasper was always at my side when Carlisle was away. He had grown less distant, but was hardly playful the way Emmett was. I was not anxious to warm up to him, knowing that he would stand trial after the Insurgence for his part in the Gathering of humans after the Event.

While he didn't sit with his arm around me, the way Carlisle did, Jasper always did sit next to me. We gradually fell into a kind of dance – if I wanted to get up from the sofa or fireplace, I caught his eye. He always rose first and gave me a hand to stand up. If I was asleep, he was now the one who was there when I woke up. He bathed me in the morning, not letting me handle the washcloth or towel, and put the clothes on the Carlisle always set out for me.

He sat at the table across from me when I ate. Good thing I don't get nervous about someone watching me eat, because I don't think I have ever eaten unobserved in this house. He seemed to like fixing pancakes for breakfast for me; he got a small smile doing that. Searching through his human experiences, I found he had occasionally made pancakes for his younger sister, Melissa, when he was human.

I eventually got him to start reading to me from the history books he liked to read. I tried not to ask too many questions, but eventually we did start talking about his books.

One day I asked "did you ever see General Grant when you were fighting in the War of Northern Aggression?" I knew this was how he referred to the American Civil War.

"No, but I saw General Robert E. Lee," Jasper answered.

"I heard that Lincoln said he had to keep Grant because he was the only one who would fight. I believe he was supposed he was quoted as saying: 'I can't spare this man, he fights.' Do you think that's true?" I asked.

"I've heard that too," Jasper acknowledged. "I don't know if it's true. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering. You know, sometimes I think I had the same relation with my C.O.," I said, waiting for a reaction. I had not discussed my own military experience with Jasper. After all, what could a girl who was 14-15 years old know about such things?

Jasper paused, and Emmett jumped in first.

"You had a C.O., a Commanding Officer?" Emmett asked.

"Yes, we had an uneasy relationship. When we first met, I told him I didn't need a C.O., but eventually he was very helpful to me. I think mostly I sent him reaching for his bottle of Pepto Bismol, as he was supposed to stay off the booze," I replied. "But he did say I was capable of making decisions in combat situations, in situations where others couldn't or would only react. He may not have agreed with all of my decisions, but he always trusted that I would make them."

I paused for a moment then asked, "Didn't Carlisle tell you I was in the Resistance?"

"Well, yes, but I kind of thought…well, you know..I wasn't sure what you would have been doing there," Emmett answered.

"Is that because you think the Resistance is a joke, because girls can't fight, or because I was too young?" I countered.

"Umm…" Emmett considered.

Finally Jasper came in. "He didn't tell us anything, darlin'. He never really went into…the details of how he found you. He just said he found you in Chicago."

I decided I had talked enough for that day. Jasper and Emmett waited to see if I would say anything else, but eventually went back to what they were doing, Jasper with a thoughtful expression on his face.

On Day 7002, or September 1, 2039 in the common calendar, Jasper had visitors. He and Carlisle had been discussing these visitors quietly for a few days, and Carlisle didn't seem entirely happy about the prospect of these two friends of Jasper's being around me. Carlisle arranged to be at home when they arrived.

Jasper came in from the garage with the two new vampires, whom he introduced as Charlotte and Peter. Both were clearly from Texas. Peter was tall and lean, with dirty blonde hair, just like Jasper. Charlotte was a small woman, about five feet tall, with short blonde hair.

I held out my hand slightly when introduced to Peter, and he took it, leaning over it to kiss the back of my hand. I had started putting my hand forward when meeting gentlemen from Texas after my trip to Isaiah's ranch in Texas. Mrs. Jones, the cook on Isaiah's ranch, had explained to me that in the old days, before the Event, most southern gentlemen would bow over a lady's hand. After July of 2020, most of them had stopped bowing over a human's hand. However, Texas boys did not give up the manners their mothers had taught them just because some foreigners from Italy said the world had changed. They kept their manners, and Mrs. Jones said that meant a lady should offer her hand, so the gentleman didn't have to reach for it.

She had been right. Every Texan I had ever met had bowed over my hand and given it a kiss in greeting. Everyone but Jasper.

I took an immediate liking to Charlotte. She reminded me a lot of Crazy, being petit, although while Crazy had a trim figure, Charlotte was all curves. She smelled like sunshine and the hot wind that blew along the Rio Grande, with undercurrents of the wildflowers that bloomed at the edges of the fields.

I knew I had to be careful, as I couldn't just assume she would reciprocate my affections, but I couldn't help wanting to sit next to her. So after the introductions were made, and she took a seat, I went over and stood next to her, waiting for an invitation to sit down. I never just sat without an invitation from a vampire.

Charlotte looked at me then looked at Jasper. "Well, sugar, aren't you the cutest thing," she drawled, patting the seat next to her on the sofa. I sat down and turned so I was facing her. "So you're the reason Jasper hasn't been back to Texas lately, and why we had to come up here to this rainy place?"

I leaned back on the sofa, smiling. I decided to tell a little story. After all, that had broken the ice with Emmett.

"Yes," I launched into my story, "Carlisle finally got tired of the phone calls, so Jasper became my babysitter."

Charlotte looked surprised, and Jasper lifted an eyebrow. "What was that?" asked Charlotte.

"Well, Carlisle got tired of the phone calls from his neighbors. I would just get so tired of being cooped up, with the rain and all, that I suppose on sunny days maybe I got a little too rambunctious when I went outside.

There Carlisle would be, in the middle of removing an appendix or something, and the cell phone would ring. He would have to answer with one hand, you know, holding the sutures with his teeth. Not easy, with sharp teeth. And it would be another call complaining about me.

Most likely, he knew it would be Mr. McGregor again. 'Cullen, I know you delivered my human family's children and treated us for every sniffle and broken bone during the 40 years I was alive, and we've been friends for 200 years of my immortal life, but that's going to all end over if you can't control that wild child you've got, I swear it.' And of course, with his vampire hearing, Carlisle can hear me yelling in the background, something about Manners Training and wanting a bushbaby."

Charlotte smiles, realizing this was a joke, and leaned in a little closer. "So, what does Carlisle do?"

"Well", I continued, "he replies to Mr. McGregor, 'I'm kind of tied up with a patient now, but I'll send my son over to pick her up and take her home.' Then he speed dials Jasper.

'Whitlock', is Jaspers standard one-word greeting." I paused in my story to glance at Charlotte.

Charlotte giggled then caught herself. That is exactly how Jasper answers his phone. I wasn't looking in Jasper's direction, but I could feel him leaning over me from behind the sofa. I carry on anyway.

"'Ah, Jasper,' purrs Carlisle" as I continue my little tale. 'I was wondering if I could trouble you to take your tranquiller gun over to Mr. McGregor's house…'

'Again?' queries Jasper.

'Yes. It appears Sweetheart has had a bit too much caffeine today. I think you'll need the tranquilizer dose standardly use on rhinos this time', says Carlisle, still working on his patient's abdomen.

'That does sound a bit strong. Are you sure of the strength?' drawls Jasper.

'Well, most rhinos haven't been guzzling Caf-Pow from the soda machine at Mrs. Minivers. She sounds like she has ingested quite a lot of sugar and caffeine today', purrs Carlisle, pulling something or another out of his patient's abdomen.

'OK, but I'm going to take some epinephrine** along, just in case,' counters Jasper as he hangs up.

Jasper makes his way to the McGregor's house and takes careful aim at me, as I zigzag back and forth across the lawn yelling, I-don't-want-to-go-home-and-you-can't-make-me.

Jasper pulls the trigger, swoosh the dart flies out of the gun, and makes its target. Over I go onto the lawn.

Jasper runs over to check on me. I look up dazed.

'I wuv you', I say to Jasper.

'New cologne, sport?' asks Carlisle, still on the cell phone.

I turn my head, spotting the McKenzie's ornamental stone lion. 'I wuv, wuv, wuv you!' I tell the stone lion, and start trying to crawl towards it."

'Wow, you're making quite the impact', remarks Carlisle admiringly.

'Actually', Jasper drawls, 'she's looking at the McKenzie's stone lion.'

'Interesting,' says Carlisle. 'well, don't let it get to you stud, it's just the drug. She'll get over the lion when the drug wears off…'

Charlotte and Peter are now starting to crack up. I could see Carlisle leaning against the staircase bannister out of the corner of my eye, and he was hiding a smile behind one hand. I really didn't want to look at Jasper. He was leaning very close from behind me, almost touching my ear with his nose. I didn't budge, even when his cool breath began to glide over my neck.

Charlotte pulled me close. "You are too cute, no wonder Jasper hasn't been home in a while".

Charlotte's smell reminded me so much of Isaiah's ranch. That was one of the places I had been considering going when I was in Chicago, before I met Carlisle.

Isaiah had a ranch off of the Rio Grande in western Texas. I had met him on a train. Or rather, I had met one of his cows. It had been cold outside, I had hopped the train trying to avoid a couple of vampires. I thought that since I was at the end of the train I would be downwind, so no vampires who might also be riding the train would pick up my scent. I could smell something coming from inside that last car. I managed to get the door open, and inside were…cows. Lots of cows, and the warmth rolling off of them felt like heaven.

I went in, rolled the door back and snuggled up against one. She started to move, then appeared to decide it was too much trouble and just went back to chewing her cud. I said, "Excuse me, ma'am," and curled myself into her side, snuggling against one of her forelegs.

I knew those cows weren't traveling unescorted, but I thought I could grab a little warmth, and a little sleep, before jumping back off of the train.

So of course I completely crashed and woke up hours later. It was now completely dark in the car, someone had shut the windows. And I was way too warm. I felt around, there was some type of a scratchy blanket covering me, and a water bottle rolled off my lap when I moved. I was sure this water bottle and blanket were going to cost me plenty, so I drank the water.

"There's another bottle, if you're still thirsty", drawled the silky voice of a vampire from the darkness at the other end of the railroad car.

"Thank you, I will drink it," I answered, quickly shoving back the thought that maybe he just wanted me hydrated so there would be more blood.

After a long silence, the voice continued. "Where are you going, if I may ask?"

Well, buddy, you just asked, I thought. "Headed towards Cincinnati, I'm in the Resistance, and I plan to hook up with a colony out there." I decided I might as well speak as if I meant it; maybe I could convince myself anyway. I had never seen a colony, and had yet to meet a member of the Resistance. But then again, every human is in the Resistance after a fashion, as we all hate what's going on in the world.

I heard a low chuckle from the darkness. "You won't be getting there this way, little lady."

I decided to bluff and stand my ground. "Why not," I demanded.

"Because this train is heading south, towards Texas. You'll have to change trains," he answered.

"Oh," is all I could reply. Might as well push my luck, I thought, what have I got to lose. "And what train would I need to catch to get there?" I queried.

"Tell you what, I've got to take these cows home. They won't take kindly to changing trains, they miss their pastures. You come with me, and I give you my word, I'll get you to that colony outside Cincinnati, if it's still there," he proposed.

"You give me your word? Why would I believe you?" I answered, almost immediately wanted to take back the remark. He might sound ok, but why should I trust a vampire? They've all got their tricks; he's probably just playing with me. Toying with his food.

"Because, little one, when it comes down to it, a word is all a man has. If his word is no good, he ain't worth nothing…" drawled the vampire.

So I made this "side trip" to Texas. And I was right about his tricks– he did have a reason for taking me there. Any ranch with cows had…horses! There were horses! I was in heaven, because though I had heard about horses all my life, I had only seen pictures of them. So when he showed them to me in the barn, I was stunned by their beauty.

I shyly walked over to one of the stalls, then glanced at Isaiah, who was keeping his distance. He nodded, and I started walking down the row of stalls, stroking the foreheads of any horses looking out at me. "This one is red, this one is brown, this one likes me, this one…" and then glanced back at Isaiah. He was still keeping his distance, so as not to spook them. Horses, like all animals, were terrified of vampires.

"You can only look at them from a distance", I commented. "You can't get close anymore?"

"Not since I was changed," he replied.

"But you still love them," I said softly.

"Yes, I can see them better now. I can see the beauty of their movement when they run, I can catch the motions on their faces when they toss their heads, all the little details I missed with my human eyes. But I can't touch them. You are very observant, little darlin'," he said, shaking his head.

It was silent for a while between us, as I continued to walk down the barn, looking at each horse in their stall.

"You want to ride one, little one?" he asked.

"Oh, could I?" Then it hit me. "This doesn't mean I don't want to go to the colony…

"I know," he said, shaking his head. "But you don't have to go today."

Finally, after a few days, I declared I did have to go today. As in today, today. I'd been there for a week, and I had been in heaven riding "my" pony, as I came to refer the stubborn black and white appaloosa. He didn't really go anywhere when I was in the saddle. If I shook the reins or squeezed my knees against his sides, he looked back at me with a glare before returning to his grazing.

"Use the reins, honey" would come Mrs. Jones' voice from the kitchen. "He needs to know who's boss."

"Oh he looks happy eating, and I know I like to eat, so why would I want to interrupt him?" I would call back.

Mrs. Jones would laugh, shake her head, and tell me what she had just taken out of the oven. But they couldn't get me off that horse's back until close to dark.

However, I kept insisting it was time for me to leave, holding Isaiah to the promise he made to me on the train. Isaiah replied he was looking into the colonies, to see which one was safe. He told me that before I left, he wanted to teach my some wilderness survival skills. He wasn't about to send someone who smelled as good as I did to vampires out into the wilderness unprepared for the next vampire who came along to snap up.

I counted the time I spent with Isaiah among my happiest periods of my freedom. Everyone spoke human languages around me, whether it was English, Spanish, or Portuguese, they all spoke human. Even the cops. A cop might glance at my neck, noticing that I wasn't wearing a collar, but they never said anything to Isaiah about it. At least not in front of me. And Isaiah took me into the stores with him when we went into town, without getting complaints from the store owners, who all offered me stick candy or some other small treat.

Crazy had warned me about the cops and the Rules. She told me that humans were supposed to be on leashes in public and weren't allowed in stores in the cities. It drove her crazy, and she loved taking me into stores, just holding my hand. Store owners were always calling the cops on her when we showed up, but she only did this in places where one of her boyfriends was likely to be the cop on duty. He would arrive to answer the complaint, roll his eyes, and say to Crazy, "Consider yourself fined."

The day I left the ranch to go north to find the colony, I bawled like a baby. Leaving was what I had wanted to do, but when it came time, I found my emotions very mixed.

I was sniffling and saying, "…and when this is over, and the humans are freed, I can come back here, and live with you all, right?" between my sobs.

The other vampires from the ranch were all hissing things at Isaiah in English, Spanish and Portuguese, saying words I'd never heard before, among the words I did understand, like "idiot".

"She's too young, even Jasper Whitlock was sixteen when he ran off to join his war," I made out from Mrs. Jones.

Isaiah just shook his head, and said, "I gave her my word", picking me up, and running at vampire speed to his truck. He drove me north, instead of taking the train. After a long drive, he stopped at a dry stream bed and gave me the backpack we had filled together back on his ranch.

"You walk down this streambed," he told me. "They'll find you all right, if you keep walking. If you go past them, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, and we'll try getting you in another way."

I nodded my head, and said, "Thank you for everything," and started walking. After I had walked for about two hours, a man came down from out of the hills and took me up to the colony. And so began my long search for a home among free humans.

Isaiah had laid his gentle trap for me well. He knew that after experiencing the freedom of living on his ranch and visiting the nearby towns, the rest of the vampire rule world would look restrictive, and I would want to return to him. He was right. There wasn't a day that passed during the time I spent in the colonies and in the resistance that I didn't think longingly of Texas.

PLEASE REVIEW. ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET AN EXCERPT FROM NEXT CHAPTER.

***epenipherin is a stimulant that can be used to restart the human heart. It is sometimes administered in a needle format called an eppie pen, in cases of respiratory failure, but can also be injected directly into the heart if needed.


	18. Chapter 18 - Game NightMemory Games

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 18 – Game Night, and Memory Games

Charlotte and Peter had left, and summer had begun to yield to fall. It was another rainy, cold day in Forks. Jasper and Emmett were playing a videogame, and I was tired of video games. So I opened the door under the main staircase that lead to the basement and went on down.

Jasper was behind me in an instant, provoking a good-natures grumble from Emmett about his game being disrupted.

Once I got down the stairs, I looked around. The first room of the basement had wall to ceiling shelving, and the shelves were covered with boxes. I walked over to examine the boxes.

"What are in these?" I asked Jasper.

"Oh, just old stuff, like camping equipment, board games, puzzles and junk," he replied. "Things we had around from when we were pretending to be human."

The camping equipment interested me, as I had spent a lot of time in the wild between cities. They had all the kinds of things I would have loved to have had out there, including tents, camp stoves, and expensive backpacks.

They also had a lot of jigsaw puzzles, carefully arranged so that the photos of the puzzle picture on the side of the box were displayed. Obviously Esme had organized these. I pulled a few down and looked at them.

"Do you think all the pieces are in the box?" I asked Jasper.

"I'm sure they are," he answered with a smile. "We don't miss much when it comes to putting the pieces back in the box, and a lot of these were probably never opened. Would you like to take one upstairs?"

"I wouldn't want to make a mess in Esme's spotless living room," I sighed.

"That is easily avoided, darlin'," answered Jasper. "We have puzzle mats to hold the pieces", and he pulled out some long rolled-up felt pieces.

"Ok, but what about these games? Which ones did you play?"

"I'm a chess man, myself. But Emmett always liked Battleship and some of the others. He only liked playing Twister with Rosalie," he chuckled. "But there's also Scrabble and Monopoly."

He pulled Scrabble and Monopoly out, and I pulled out Twister. We took those, along with a few puzzles, upstairs.

"Hey Emmett, look what I found!" I sang out as we re-enter the living room.

"What's that little one," Emmett boomed at me across the room.

"Twister," I replied. "Want to play with me?" I asked, earning a growl from Rosalie which I ignored.

"Ummm…I'm not so sure that would work. I'm a bit bigger than you are, and…" he started.

"Chicken?" was my one word answer.

"Not in my nature", he answered. "Just get someone to spin that wheel."

Twister with Emmett was fun. He may be over twice my size in mass but was very limber. We twisted mightily, trying to get the foot or arm down on the correct circle. At one point, Edward was calling out to Emmett that he should remove his hand to let me get my leg get to the assigned circle. After all, he could reassemble himself later. Emmett just shook his head and decided he needed to move his arm in order to scratch behind his ear, while I quickly put my left foot down on the red circle which that arm had been blocking.

Rosalie tried to claim that maneuver was a game ending foul, but we kept making up rule changes that allowed us to play, although the game seemed to always end with both of us lying in a giggling mess on the game mat.

On another night, Carlisle and I were laying against the cushion by the fire. He had curled me against his chest, and while he was reading a book, I was running through one of the Shakespeare plays I kept memorized in my head.

Carlisle interrupted my recitation. "What are you thinking, sweetheart?" he asked.

I decided to talk a little about life in the wild. "Since humans aren't supposed to be able to read, we have reverted to oral traditions. We memorize various writings, and then when we meet up, we check to see who is carrying what."

"Fascinating," Carlisle remarked softly. Jasper put down his book and leaned forward.

"So," I continued, "I was reciting a play. Let's play stump the chump. This work is by a British author, I was a little ways into it; let's see how long it takes for you to recognize it. That is, assuming you do recognize it," I teased.

"Begin then," Carlisle urged, chuckling softly.

I was a little ways into one of Shakespeare's Henry the Sixth plays. I find military works interesting in general, and the better known plays, like Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, had lots of carriers in the wilderness. I tried to focus on the less commonly memorized works.

I picked back up during an exchange between the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Bedford, as the they were being given news by a messenger: "'Sad tidings I bring to you out of France, of loss, of slaughter and discomfiture: Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Orleans, Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. /

What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse? Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns will make him burst his lead and rise from death. / Is Paris lost? Is Rousen yielded up? …'" [I Henry VI Act I: sc I, lines 59-66]

It's clear Carlisle recognized the passage immediately, as he took a quick breath and put his head down by my ear. He has his eyes closed, and appeared rapt.

I continued on, glancing around, looking for signs that others have recognized the play. Emmett was shaking his head in frustration, and Edward's face was the first to light up as he read Carlisle's mind. Jasper was mouthing, "no fair" to Edward, but Edward wass trying to convince Jasper that he recognized the passage at the same time that he picked it out of Carlisle's brain. Alice had her face screwed up in concentration, trying to remember where she heard the lines. She didn't talk to me in human, but apparently doesn't want to miss out on an opportunity to show off her knowledge gained through years of attending high school.

When I pause near the end of an Act I, Carlisle gives a low growl in my ear, so I continued.

When I finished Part I, Carlisle slowly opened his eyes. "It's been a long time since someone bothered with that play," he said softly. "You read, or recited, it well. Thank you for that."

"What else do you have in there, in your head?" asked Emmett.

"Oh, we can't read of course," I added sarcastically, "and even if we could," I continued more seriously, "it would be clumsy to try to carry the seminal works around of our human past when traveling. So we try to carry an assortment of works in our memories, things that would be useful in a variety of situations. Some works of literature, tales to tell in the dark or when it's cold. Some works of politics and some items of history, to remember our past. Also religious works are always needed, passages that can be used in sermons or for rituals, such as weddings and funerals."

Alice's eyes grew wide at the mention of weddings and funerals. Both funerals and weddings have been outlawed, since we are food. The Rules don't allow funerals, since one doesn't mourn the passing of food with ritual ceremony. The Rules also require all humans are to be bred at age sixteen, and breeding does not allow for the concept of love and long term choice of partners. Dating and love between humans, sanctified by marriage, have been outlawed by Aro's Rules. The Rules do not even permit a vampire to keep both male and female pets in the same household in order to prevent love from developing.

Our churches have become subversive, as we used them to honor the rituals that make us human. Funerals have become sites of resistance, as we honor all the dead, including those who died without rites or hope of burials in captivity. The liturgies have been amended to reflect these changes. The church has become the one of the main binding elements of our outlawed colony society, as this is where rituals are held, the rituals that impart meaning to the passages of lives and instill a rhythm to the passing of the seasons and the years.

As for laws, while there are codes put out by the Human Council, they were primarily suggested codes of conduct for Resistance members or the colonies in general. The colony leaders made and enforced rules for each colony, mainly relating to security. Each colony leader carried a side arm, to enforce these rules. Any one compromising the colony's security could be executed on the spot by a colony leader.

I was a long way from the colonies tonight, though, reciting the Shakespeare play for Carlisle and his family in this luxuriously appointed living room. I frequently felt guilty living in such conditions, even though the colonies had recently been moved into permanent housing with electricity and running water.

"Did you ever see this play performed when you lived in London?" I asked Carlisle.

"Several times," Carlisle replied. "Sometimes I would fly back from the states to see it, when it was revived in London in more recent years."

Deciding that I've had enough for one night, I buried myself against Carlisle's chest. Eventually he took me upstairs, and I went to bed.

PLEASE REVIEW. ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET EXCERPTS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER.


	19. Chapter 19 - Feeling Grumpy

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 19

********AUTHORS' NOTE – This chapter was not in the original plot line, but I was pissed off the other day and decided to write about Bella picking a fight with Jasper. Whoo-hoo! It does introduce a more serious topic, Bella's impending sexual maturity, as her menstrual cycle, suppressed due to poor diet, is about to start soon. This is serious for her because the rules required all humans to be bred at age 16. In case you haven't noticed, this Carlisle and this Jasper aren't particularly anxious for a human or any other male to be near their little 'sweetheart' or 'darlin'', as they each call her. She hasn't picked this up yet, of course, as she is used to thinking of herself as plain. All her early experiences have taught her that she is too plain to be of interest to vampires, which is a good thing, since it kept her from being sold to a brothel.

Also, I am posting an outtake this weekend, an alternative version of Bella's introduction to the Cullens. In this version, which would take the place of Chapters 7-11, she is bought by Edward in Seattle while she is on an undercover mission in a human pound. On the drive back to Forks, he is so overwhelmed by her scent that he is on the verge of pulling over and draining her. She manages to escape by stealing that shiny silver Volvo. She decides to return the car to its place of registration, which is the Cullen mansion. This is a much darker, quite different, introduction to the story. Please check it out if you are interested, under "the Insurgency Outtake - Edward Buys Bella".

Sorry for the long note, here's the latest regular chapter.

Chapter 19 - Feeling Grumpy

(Bella POV)

I had been feeling achy and crabby for some time.

I noticed that my body was beginning to fill out, probably as a result of eating all the rich food Carlisle ordered for me. My ribs were not so visible, and my breasts were actually showing small cups. My nipples were getting tender too.

It hurt when Jasper dried me off after my bath. I usually didn't say anything and just endured being toweled off, but now he was hurting me. I grabbed the towel, mumbling "you're hurting me."

He paused, said "Sorry Darlin'," quietly, and then tugged the towel back.

Sometimes I was really snappy. Carlisle picked up on these moments to get even more physically close. He started spending more time at home and was carrying me around the house again. I wanted to choke him or smash things, I felt so crappy. His cool hands felt good though.

The mind reader relayed that my hormone levels were changing, and Carlisle was picking up on the difference this made to my scent. It was making him more protective, if such a thing were possible. He was even growling at Esme if she got too close.

On one of the rare mornings that he actually left the house, there was a knock on the door. Esme answered it, as she always did. It was a deliveryman, and he announced in human, in a voice loud enough for me to hear, that he had a package address to "the Little One, c/o Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

I moved towards the door, but Jasper flashed in front of me. I reached for the package, only to have Jasper move to intercept. The deliveryman, one of the loyal Bulgarian allies named Andrei, said "my directions say to deliver to the Little One, and if can't give it to the little one, I am to leave with it."

Jasper snarled, but I grabbed the package from under his arm. Andrei smiled as he lowered is head to look at his clipboard.

I curled myself around the little box and held on tight. Eventually I got it open. It contained a glass bottle filled with pink pills topped with cotton and a big pin tulle bow. The label read 'Midol'.

I went into the kitchen, with Jasper as my shadow, got a glass of water, and took one.

Jasper was immediately on the phone with Carlisle. He tried to hand me the phone, but I shook my head and mouthed, "the phone is bugged." I'm not speaking in human to Carlisle over the phone. I know the rules prohibit vampires speaking in human language to a human. I won't get him in trouble that way; I won't give the cops who are tapping the phone lines something so easy.

Jasper finally told Carlisle l wouldn't talk to him over the phone, and then we both sat on the sofa, waiting for Carlisle to come home. I hoped there would be a fight. A big one, I was spoiling for a fight.

When Carlisle came in, he quickly sensed the tense atmosphere. Jasper's gift of empathy didn't work past my shield I chose not to let it, and I was choosing not to be calmed today.

Jasper gave him the pills, and Carlisle asked what they were.

"Midol," I announced.

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Yes they are. They are pink because apparently the boys decided since they are for girls, they would dye the lot pink," I retorted with a roll of my eyes.

"You mean these are new?" asked Carlisle with interest.

"Yes, some friends – oh, right, humans can't call vampire friends, so OK, some Superior Beings got their hands on a few drug company formularies. They've been working on obtaining the ingredients and making up drugs since most of the existing stock expired over a decade ago. As they get the ingredients for whichever drug they are targeting, they check to see if there is anything else they can make up using a similar formula," I begin.

"Fascinating," interjects Carlisle.

"They're working on drugs used on the young, for children and pregnant women, first. Pain killers, antibiotics, things like that. There isn't much use for the drugs needed for older humans, heart ailments, system failures, cancer. Nobody's living that long," I reply with a glare at both of them. "They sent me the Midol as a gift. Must have figured that at my age I would need it."

"You should have consulted with me," replied Carlisle.

This time I'm not letting you run the show, Mr. BossyPants, I think. "It was an over the counter drug, some 20 years ago. I wouldn't have had to consult with you then, and I'm not consulting with you now."

Jasper hissed at this, but Carlisle merely blinked.

"Sweetheart, I just worry about the safety of this product," he says gently.

"Don't worry. I didn't spend all my time in the resistance fighting vampire and blowing up shit. I spent two winters in a university setting."

It was true; I had stumbled across a former college campus in the woods on the east coast when I was looking for food one winter. I hadn't known what it was initially; I just saw institutional buildings and entered one looking for canned food.

I walked around the halls, looking into the rooms, seeing the various arrangements of beds and dressers. The rooms contained books, papers, clothes and toiletries, and photos, among other things. I was going through the clothes to see if I could find anything I might be able to wear, when I was hit by the realization that probably all of the people who lived in these room had probably died soon after the Event of July 2020. The photos showed young, attractive, well-groomed girls, who would have quickly been selected for brothels. Reading through their papers, I felt the weight and pain of their early deaths.

It turns out that I had stumbled onto the Dartmouth College campus. There were still a few immortal residents who had been professors before the event, and they wanted to pay 'college' with me after they found me sleeping in the dorm. I stayed in the dorm to sleep and study, and I would trudge through the snow to another building to take classes. The four resident vampires took turns sitting in one another's classrooms to further the illusion of a class experience for me. They wanted me to study the basics: history, literature, math and science. They only had one scientist among them, but the others just stayed a few chapters ahead of me in order to teach a class.

I think they initially acted as they did, inviting me to take classes, because they were bored. They genuinely liked humans, though, and they wanted to return to their familiar pursuits of teaching. But once they realized I not only knew how to read, but also had taught myself something about science, basically the chemistry of building explosives from household cleaning agents, they became more interested in me.

At the end of the first winter, as I headed back out into the wild after the spring thaw, they had given me an electronic reading application they had loaded with some text books. I read every chance I got, at night or when traveling. Then, when I returned the second winter, they had given some tests that they found in other professors' and the dean's offices. By the end of the second winter, they had determined that I had done enough work to qualify for a college degree, in part because of all the time spent in chemistry lab, purifying ingredients to be used in making the drugs. They said I had done enough to qualify for a Bachelor's in Science.

Additionally, they felt I was close to earning a Master's in History, in part because of a paper I had written while studying Greek and Asian languages. They felt it was original enough to qualify for a Maters Thesis. They wanted me to do more reading before conferring the honorary history degree, as my reading hadn't been very general. It had been focused on the history of war, on battles and military strategy. I had done some reading on the history of science, and read some of the seminal works written by scientists and mathematicians from Newton to Fermi, but that was still very specific. So they gave me a reading list, and asked me to work on some papers, and submit the papers to them for examination periodically.

I shook my head to return to the present, and to the curious stares of Jasper and Carlisle. "You left us there for a minute, little on," said Jasper softly.

"I went to a type of college for two winters," I continued. "I read, wrote papers, and did chemistry labs. They gave me 'lab' credit for working on purifying and extracting the ingredients for the drugs they decided to begin developing the second winter I was there. I know their procedures and lab situation. I'm sure I know more than the humans who used to just buy the pills of the pharmacy shelves."

Jasper interjected, "But you should have let Carlisle contact them and decide what's best for you."

I'm done talking nicely, I thought. I hissed back at him one of the Portuguese phrases someone said to Isaiah the day I was leaving his ranch. I didn't know what is meant, but it sounded bad, and so I had kept it in my memory for just such an occasion.

Jasper was in front of me in an instant, his hands on my shoulders.

Carlisle made him let go of me.

"What did you just say?" Carlisle inquired tensely.

"I'm not sure, but from somebody's reaction, I think I hit the target," I tossed back.

"And where did you hear that, darlin'" asked Jasper.

Oh buddy, wouldn't you like to know. "Just something I picked up along the way."

"I take it whatever she said wasn't polite," Carlisle asked Jasper.

"Not a bit," Jasper growled.

"Well, that shouldn't trouble you. You've dropped all the manners your mama taught you when you sided with the Italian foreigners, that's clear. I'm surprised you even remember the human languages from your past," I taunted, my voice dropping into my touch of a west Texas accent.

"OK, stop now," started Carlisle.

Jasper froze. "What did you say, and where did you hear that?"

"Obviously, you know the answers to both of those questions," I retort. "When's the last time you bowed over a lady's hand? I would be insulted, except you don't do this for Esme either."

"When did you live in Texas?" asks Jasper.

"None of your damn business, but certainly more recently than you. You've been gone so long you've lost almost all connections to your past. That's probably a good thing; you've got medals from the new Italian royalty the Volturi, so you should be siding with the new Masters of the New Order. You don't seem to remember any of the Texas manners and traditions, is there any part of you that is still you? Do you think Melissa** would even recognize you if she met you today? If it wasn't for Peter and Charlotte, you'd probably forget where Texas was on a map, vampire memory or no vampire memory," I shouted, and flounced out of the room.

Carlisle made Jasper stay behind to cool down, and he followed me to his study, quietly closing the door. I didn't know whether to continue lashing out, or to start crying.

"It'll pass, sweetheart, it'll pass," he promised, pulling me to his chest. As he held me, I started crying. I cried for those girls in the photos at Dartmouth, I cried for the girls I rescued from the brothels who died as I was transporting then to the hospital, I cried for my mother dying in the woods. I cried for us all, and fell into darkness, my face pressed against Carlisle's chest, against his shirt soaked with my tears.

**Melissa was Jasper's younger human sister

PLEASE REVIEW, ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER.


	20. Chapter 20 - Manners Training

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 20 - Manners Training – part 1

(Bella POV)

AUTHOR'S NOTE – I have posted a two chapter outtake, an alternate version of the original meeting between Carlisle and Bella. This version is much darker: in it Edward buys Bella from a pound in Seattle while she is on an undercover mission. When she gets to the Cullen mansion, Jasper and Emmett almost attack her on the front yard. I kind of like it better in some ways than the episode in Chicago which I used in the posted version of this story, but it didn't fit with my outline of the entire story, so I used the Chicago version of the meeting instead. Please check it out, if you are interested.

Now here's Chapter 20, and in this chapter, the Cullens meet the first of several characters from Bella's past:

It had been a nice day, no rain, and the entire Cullen family was visiting. We were all sitting outside in the early evening. Rosalie and Alice had smug looks on their face, and everyone had been talking around me, not talking to me. The mind reader tipped me off to the fact that Carlisle and Esme had decided to take Rosalie and Alice's concerns about the family's safety seriously on one point. They had decided I should go through Manners Training. I had been there for several months, and since no one had filed a counterclaim against the court ordered ownership Carlisle had obtained in Chicago, he had relaxed a bit and decided that probably no one would.

Crazy knew about Carlisle's court order ownership of me, but hadn't filed a counterclaim. She was going to pay a visit personally, but didn't want to put me in a situation where I was put in a pound while she and Carlisle went to court.

Manners Training was required of all human who lived in a vampire household. The humans who had been raised as pets and purchased in pet stores, had undergone training prior to their sale, and came with certificates of Manners Training completion. Since Carlisle had a court order for ownership, he had no proof I had undergone Manners Training, so he had arranged for a trainer to come to the house. He hadn't wanted to make a big deal about it to me, so they hadn't told me anything.

Emmett broke the silence with, "So, you're gonna learn manners today I hear?"

"What do you mean," I ask innocently.

"The Manners Training Lady is coming here in a while, you're going to be all…"Carlisle cut Emmett off, telling him quietly that I didn't know about the training.

Carlisle kneels in front of me. "Come inside, dear, Esme and I have something we would like to discuss with you," he begins.

"You're putting me through Manners Training because of my attitude lately?" I ask sweetly.

"No, dear," Esme begins. "We need to do this, because it is required that all humans…"

The doorbell rings, and as Carlisle and Esme go to answer the door, I am left sitting with Jasper. Jasper is sitting on an outdoor bench, with his arm loosely around my neck, while I'm sitting on the ground, messing with repotting some tomatoes for the garden. Carlisle had dressed me in an ivory dress today. And once I learned that he was planning this Manners Training session, I had decided to dig around in a little mud on the patio, which I accomplished by re-potting these tomatoes. After all, I am a teenager, and I've been managing to sneak in a bit of teenage rebellion occasionally. I'm sure I look quite glamorous by now. Esme had been patting away the mud as best she could all evening, so I had to be careful to make the swipes against my clothes and face rather hard to ensure the mud would stick.

I look back at Emmett, and say, very softly, "I guess I shouldn't tell them what happened the LAST time I had Manners Training."

Emmett grins and says "Out with it, how bad could it have been?"

"How about I trashed a five story building, and a few hours later somebody posted a $100,000 reward for my capture?" Gasps from the girls sitting on the swinging bench, and Emmett bursts out laughing.

"No, maybe you shouldn't tell them. But you GOTTA tell me!" he chokes out after he finishes laughing.

I hear Carlisle and Esme answering the door and greeting someone from inside the house. Then I hear a voice saying she would like to say hello to someone she recognizes outside.

A minute later, Mademoiselle walks out onto the terrace. The teacher from what my friends called the Boston Manners Training Fiasco. Mademoiselle's eyes widen upon seeing me, then she races to me, stopping before touching me at Jasper's warning growl.

"Oh, little Madeleine, I am so glad to see you," she exclaims in her French accent. Carlisle's eyebrow rises and Emmett starts mouthing "Madeleine" with a questioning look from across the patio.

Damn, Crazy's cat's name had come into play. Crazy always used her favorite cat's name whenever she had to show ownership papers for me. "You're a people, not a pet," she always said. She had filed all the papers under her favorite cat's name, Madeleine.

Noticing that Mademoiselle's eyes are moving from me to Jasper and then back, I suppress a smile. I guess she thought I had stepped up the muscle since the last disastrous manners training in Boston.

"You know our sweetheart?" asks Esme tentatively.

"Oh yes, and I'm so relieved to see you are all right. You were always my favorite human, and you have such a wonderful singing voice. I am glad to see you are with the Major now", she babbles. "Just look at how lovely you are. That color in your cheeks," she enthuses, stroking my cheeks, "I have to put on rouge to get that look. And look at your pretty lips and how your skin just glows! The Major has been very good for you!"

Emmett's lips are still trying out the name Madeleine, and I'm trying hard not to laugh.

I keep my eyes down, after all I know what to do around vampires, having taken her training class, and say, "We didn't ask if I had passed after the last class ended so…abruptly. It didn't occur to me I might have passed."

"Of course you passed! You were so lovely and polite in class, paying such close attention." Mademoiselle turns to Carlisle and Esme and continues, "If your young lady has been around little Madeleine, we will be done here very quickly. She moved so quickly and easily through Manners Training, and she would have done just as outstandingly well in my Finishing School classes that I taught in Paris before…before…l" she paused.

I hadn't paid much attention to her in the Boston classroom, now I realize she genuinely likes humans. It used to be that most "animal trainers," such as people who gave dog obedience classes, held those jobs because they loved animals. This was not the case with the vampire manners trainers. For the most part, the vampire manners trainers thought humans were beneath them, and they were just teaching "the rats" their place. It was more slave training. So Mademoiselle was something of a rarity among Manners Trainers.

Carlisle smiles. "I did not know you had taken Manners Training," he says to me.

"Well, you didn't ask now did you?" I mouth at him, not wanting to shock Mademoiselle with my directness. "And you never answered my question from earlier, are you doing this to me because of my recent attitude?"

Carlisle carefully holds my gaze and says seriously, "This is a requirement of the rules, and one I intend to fulfill. It's an easy one for the police to check without actually visiting the house, to measure compliance with the rules."

I wouldn't have told him about the Boston fiasco, because I hadn't known I had passed the course, among other reasons. I thought that I had failed for several reasons, not the least being when one of the other vampires lost control of his blood thirst and tried to attack me, I had helped Crazy fight back. It seemed to me that the point of Manners Training was to do whatever a vampire wanted. And that meant letting a vampire attack and kill you, if that's what the vampire wanted to do.

Deciding to ease the tension, I ask her a question. "Well, then since you're here, perhaps you can give me some guidance with certain situations. I mean, I do things, and perhaps they are misguided?" I query.

"What are these transgressions," Mademoiselle asks quite properly.

"Well," I begin, "what is the proper place to put one's chewing gum when done. I notice that when I put under the leather car seats in the Mercedes, I think I hear a growl. But when I stick in on top of the seat, and the next person who gets in the car sits on it, the growl is even louder," I say with wide eyes, feigning innocence.

Mademoiselle looks shocked and then starts to smile slowly. She's clearly uncomfortable. I don't know how often a human has nearly been attacked in one of her classes, but Carlisle is a high-profile client, if this gets out, it might hurt her reputation.

"Perhaps one should remove one's gum before leaving the house," she suggests.

"Thank you, I'll do that. The second issue is a question about food. I just can't say I care for truffles. Yet I keep getting this tagliatelli ai funghi neri con quattro formaggi en croute*. I know that getting truffles these days is not easy. Truffles, after all, are difficult to find, and have traditionally been located by a man following a specially trained pig on a leash.

Now, in this world, truffle hunting gets more complicated. First the vampire takes the human and pig out into the forest on their leashes: the vampire holding the human's leash, the human holding the pig's leash. The pig won't hunt with the vampire present, so the vampire removes the human's leash. Once off the leash and out of sight, the human takes off for freedom, letting go of the pig's leash, as the human and pig run in opposite directions. So now the vampire is out chasing the human, then chasing down the pig. The vampire takes them both home, yells at the human, and they set off to try again the next day.

But the human won't miss his chance at freedom, so after promising the vampire that this time he won't run away, he drops the pig's leash when he is out of sight of the vampire once again, and runs for dear life. And again, the vampire is out hunting down the human and the pig…

Eventually, after several tries, the human agrees not to run away. The pig, however, has already learned that after a few yards, he is to take off and run for dear life. So now when the human and pig have traveled beyond the vampire's sight, the pig takes off running, dragging the human behind it. The human tells the vampire he's sorry, but now it's the pig that has to be retrained to hunt.

Eventually, everybody gets their act coordinated, and a truffle is actually found. Relief!

But, when pieces of truffle turn up in the Italian dish tagliatelli ai funghi neri con quattro formaggi en croute, I don't like them. And I want to pick them out. So what am I supposed to do?"

Mademoiselle is biting back laughter at the description of the botched truffle hunt, but she says carefully, "Are you dining at home, or are you a guest? If you are a guest, perhaps you should try your best to eat a little. At home, you should advise your daddy that you do not care for the truffles."

"I told daddy, and he says they make my hair shiny, so he wants me to eat them anyway," I go into a fake pout.

Mademoiselle glances at Carlisle, who rolls his eyes.

"And how about my clog dancing?" I continue. "I like practicing clog dancing in my own room, upstairs. The acoustics are fantastic! But they all complain about the noise as my room is right over the living room. Do I really have to practice outside, in a shed two miles away? Stupid oversensitive vampire hearing…" I mutter with my arms crossed.

We continue this banter for a while, and then after a little more talk, and after Mademoiselle heaps a little more praise on "her favorite human," she and Carlisle finish their business.

Mademoiselle tells Carlisle that she can re-print my certificate showing completion of Manners Training, and they go to his office to print out the document.

When they return, there are bows, and thank you's all around, and she leaves.

After Mademoiselle finally leaves, bowing yet again, and telling everyone what a wonderful little human I am, it gets quiet again. Everyone is staring at me.

I can't stand it anymore and start laughing.

Emmett jumps in first. "Madeleine?" is all he has to say. Now I'm rolling on the ground because I'm laughing so hard I can't talk, and the ivory dress is ruined.

I look at Jasper. "Did you see the look on her face when she saw me with you?" I ask, earning a low growl from Carlisle. I decide to ignore the growl, since Carlisle leaves me with Jasper all the time.

"I guess after my last Manners Training class, she must have decided I had gone in for muscle with my next owner and found myself an experienced fighter. I daresay they don't come more experienced than you," I continue.

"What happened, little darlin'", Jasper asks. "Although something tells me I'm not going to like the answer."

"I attended a Manners Training class in Boston. Supposed to be very high brow, we got new dresses and shoes for the occasion. But one of the gentleman vampires got, um, a little thirsty during the class, and went into a crouch…"

I'm interrupted by growls from Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett.

"You should never have been in a group class," said Carlisle. "That's why I flew her out here, for a private session."

"Agreed," interjects Jasper.

"I'm just surprised she said I passed," I innocently reply. "I didn't exactly stand still for the attack; I used a diversionary tactic to assist interrupting the attack. But that did occur after the standard training session was over. They had moved on to a 'bonus' talent round, where those girls with talents were to give an exhibition of their skills."

"But I'm afraid I wasn't entirely guiltless in this. I had given an exhibition of my talent all right – I sassed a male vampire, leading to the attack," I assert, feigning a guilty look.

"You sassed a vampire, Madeleine?" asks Emmett, rolling his eyes.

"My name isn't Madeleine. That was Crazy's favorite cat's name from back when she was human. She used it whenever someone asked for her pet's name. I guess I should tell this story from the beginning, right?" I ask.

I get a round of 'yeses', so I continue.

"Crazy signed us up for Manners Training. There were some dining utensils she had never used, as she never went to Finishing School when she was human. So she thought they might show humans how to use them in Manners Training class.

She asked her boyfriend, a highly placed cop, about getting us into a nice Manners training class, something really highbrow. He asked why, and when she told him, he said, "I don't think that's what they do in Manners Class."

She insisted we go anyway, after all, he had never been to one of the better classes, so what would he know. He ended up just rolling his eyes and passing her his black credit card.

She signed us up and then took me shopping. "Baby, this is really high class. We are going to walk in there looking good."

She had her hair done; I got a wig, which she styled with banana curls. We both got new outfits, including new shoes.

Did I mention the new shoes?

Crazy went to the nicest shoe store in Boston. She went in with me, and the owned immediately dialed the cops, as humans aren't allowed in vampire stores. When Crazy's cop boyfriend showed up, he just looked at us, said, "Consider yourself fined," to Crazy, and then left.

Crazy started to leave with me, but turned to the proprietress and said, "I knew I should have gone shopping in New York City. These stores out here in the sticks don't have any of the better brands."

Well, that got the store owner going, and she pulled out some Manolo Blahniks. Crazy got me three pairs, two in black, one that went with jeans. She said I needed to have at least two pairs of my own, so it didn't look like I was wearing vampire cast-offs. She and the store owner then spent some time showing me how to walk in the high heels."

"Are you telling me that you own Manolo Blahniks?" asks Alice, forgetting that she doesn't speak in human to me.

I nod in response, and continue.

"When we got to the class, though, the left shoe was rubbing my ankle. I had been ignoring the pinch, but when it became a burn, I glanced down, and it was just-this-close-to-bleeding."

Jasper winced, and Emmett let out a groan. By now, Carlisle had come out to rejoin us, and he sat down quietly next to me.

"I showed my ankle to Crazy, and she said, 'Take them off, Baby, quick.'

But the damage was done, and now I had the red eyes of fourteen other vampires attending the session trained on that heel through the entire class."

Carlisle shook his head and turned to Jasper. "That's why I had the trainer come to the house. Even without the wound, she shouldn't have been in a group of male vampires. Too high risk."

"The tension level in that room was very high," I continued, "and I think that class never had a chance before it started. But we made it through the regular session, and then went to the Bonus session. This was something not usually done, but the girls in this class were supposed to be talented. This was an opportunity for the vampire owners to show off their talented purchases.

When it was my turn, I showed off my talented mouth. I sassed one of the vampires, and he went into a crouch to attack me."

Esme gasped, and both Jasper and Carlisle started growling.

"But I was with Crazy. As Jasper probably knows, it's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog. Although Crazy was only 5'2", my size, she was a true fighter. More like a berserker. She flung herself across the room, snarling, and took a big chunk out of the attacking vampire's chest."

"Leaving you unprotected," commented Jasper.

"No, one of the other male vampires had moved in front of me. A tall lanky guy, with a 100 yard stare. He stood in front of me almost casually, without even assuming a protective stance, as if saying 'attack me, make my day'. I think he was from Texas," I continued.

Jasper nodded, "Sounds like it."

"One of the other male vampires rolled his eyes when the first vampire didn't even make a move to protect himself from Crazy. He just had his hands at his sides, as if to say 'someone is attacking the Magnificence of Moi?' You know, that was the first time I met a vampire who didn't know how to fight. I kind of thought it came with the growl, you know, when you woke up from the change?" I asked Jasper.

He gave me a thin smile, and said, "No, not always".

"Anyways, as the second vampire was pulling Crazy off my would-be attacker, Crazy pin wheeled around, grabbed his foot, and took a big bite out of the top of his shoe. She got his big toe in that bite, apparently, and spit it out."

I heard snickers and mumbled 'eews" from the listeners.

"But just as she was pinwheeling around, I was pulling the fire alarm.

I always notice the placement of fire alarms when I go into a room. Safety first, I say," looking at an oddly amused Carlisle, who raises an eyebrow. "I may not be able to do anything about the vampires in the room, but I can know the placement of the emergency equipment, and the nearest exits if there is a fire.

So I pulled that alarm. And it was a foam system. So just as Crazy spit out that big toe, the foam came down. And the toe got lost in the foam. He had to have help finding it, so he must have gotten really pissed off."

Emmett started laughing, and Jasper elbowed him, never taking his eyes off of me.

"Some guy pulled me out from under the table I had slipped under after pulling the fire alarm, and took me outside. Crazy came and got me, and we left. Next day, we found out there's a $100,000 reward posted for me. My trackers came and told me about it. But a day or so later, another of my trackers convinced him to withdraw it, so don't think of trying to turn me in for a new car or something…"

It was true; the Manners Training class had been a disaster. I had all fourteen sets of red eyes glued to my heel.

Which had been really something, considering the other girls in the class.

TO BE CONTINUED…

PLEASE REVIEW, ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET PREVIEWS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER

*"tagliatelli ai funghi neri con quattro formaggi en croute" – obviously made up pasta dish, I strung together the phrases for pasta with black truffles plus 4 cheeses and then added "en croute", the French phrase for baked in a pastry. Sounds a tad heavy –but maybe Carlisle would order this to put some weight on her, who knows?


	21. Chapter 21 - Manners Training - Pt 2

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 21 – Manners Training debacle continued – part 2

(Bella's POV)

This chapter continues Bella's memory of the doomed Manners Training in Boston, when she is almost attacked by another vampire.

It was true: the Manners Training class had been a disaster. I had all fourteen sets of red eyes glued to my heel.

Which had been really something, considering the other girls in the class.

When the other humans first starting filing in, I had turned to Crazy and asked, "Did the couples bring their human?"

"Baby, that girl is human. Look at her eyes. My god, this looks like the latest graduating class from Belial's. We may have to get out of here…"Crazy replied.

I took another look. Those elegant women were human? Sure enough, their graceful movements appeared choreographed, but were all being executed at the male vampires' subtle directions, if I watched closely. And their eyes were far away.

Belial's** was the premier auction house for human girls. We found out later that the starting bids for girls that season had been $100,000, and very few had been sold for a mere $100K. The bidding process had put most at $350K and up. I was now very interested in Belial's and my eventual destruction of that hell hole would become the crowning achievement of my liberation efforts for the resistance.

But in this room, with my injured heel, all eyes were on me, the pound puppy.

We moved through the normal Manners Training without incident, although the atmosphere was growing increasingly tense. We then went on to the Bonus Round, as I called it. This is where the recently purchased humans were to show off their talents.

The first girl was brought to everyone's attention when her vampire owner reached down, and with one quick movement pulled the Grecian goddess style dress she was wearing off of her over her head. Crazy started to grab me and leave, but the girl was wearing a ballet leotard underneath it. Her vampire owner put out one hand, and she lifted her leg in a straight motion at a 90 degree angle, and set it in his hand. He put a toe shoe on her foot, laced it quickly, and put her leg back down. This was repeated with the other leg.

Someone started some music, and at a nod from Mademoiselle, she began a ballet routine. Her eyes remained dead and fixed while her body moved fluidly. She used the male vampire as part partner, part support. He lifted her, and swung her through moves that not even Balanchine would have approved of, due to their erotic nature.

They finished, and she remained standing, feet flat, toe shoes pointing out.

The next girl was urged forward by a smug looking vampire, whom I decided to call Mr. Pompous. She was clearly supposed to sing, but she had lost her voice. He was not pleased, and she began to struggle to sing, but could only put out some choked sounds.

I was having trouble watching this, so I stepped in. I started singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"***, including the verse "if I get there [to heaven] before you do… I'll cut a hole and pull you through…"

After I finished, the circle's eyes were back on me. The girls' eyes were actually focused, looking at me. All it took was one song to break the years of training?

The girl who had lost her voice looked over at me and whispered, "That was beautiful. What was it about?"

I told her that it was written by Wallis Willis some time before 1862 and was thought to have been used by slaves while escaping the south using the Underground Railroad. Some said that the call-refrain type of song were used to signify when it was safe for an escaping slave to cross the Ohio River, one of the natural boundaries between slave states and free states. If someone was waiting on the other side of the river, they would sing the refrain. In this way the song was used to help guide the runaway slaves to freedom in the north.

There was silence in the room after I finished.

Then the pompous looking vampire said, "What are you trying to do here? What are you saying about me, that I'm some kind of a southern massa, one you're teaching her how to escape?"

Well, maybe I am. I 'Three Ducked' him, yep I did it. That is my litmus test for pompous asses, and he passed with flying colors. "If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck…it's a duck," I said.

He took that like a true vampire, sinking into a crouch, wiggling his form a little to show everyone in the room 'this is how you take out a smart aleck human.'

But, he wasn't prepared for Crazy. While he was settling into his position, she had already sprung at him.

She took a chunk out of his chest and was spitting it out when one of the other vampires rolled his eyes and walked over to pull her off of Mr. Pompous. I had never encountered a vampire who didn't know how to fight. I just thought it was a package deal, that the ability to fight came with the growl. But this guy was just looking at Crazy, with his hands at his sides, and an expression that seemed to say, _someone is attacking the magnificence of Moi_?

As the other vampire started to pull Crazy off, she pin wheeled around, and grabbed Pompous' foot. She took a big bite out of one of his preppy loafer with the leather tassels, which apparently included the big toe. Just as she was spitting it out, I pulled the fire alarm.

I had noticed the fire alarm the moment we entered the room. I always check out fire alarms, wherever I go, and I saw that this one was a model that had a secondary foam system that needed to be manually activated. If just the alarm was pulled, the water sprinkler system came on. But if a fire department code was entered, the foam system would be activated. That there was a foam component on this model was not surprising. The Manners Training class was being held in a hospital, for the convenience of some of the vampire doctor staff.

One thing vampires had not bothered to get when they wiped out most of the human race in 2020 was the various codes to our technologies. Many of those middle aged men that the vampires thought were good for nothing, as their blood was past its prime, frequently had skills or technological training and know-how that they took to their graves. They had been experts in such things as how to run and maintain a city, operate a train, keep the electrical power grids running, all of the things critical to a functioning civic life.

But these men had managed to pass on certain codes to the resistance. These included override codes to various locks, including the manufacturer's master override key codes to most cars, as well as override codes to various security locks on doors. The vampires could just open these doors using their superhuman strength, if they needed to, but it was useful for humans to know how to get a door open quietly.

As for the fire department codes, activating most of the codes needed to set off the foam sprinkler systems had eventually become a simple matter of knowing the last digit. The coded systems were never intended to be too complicated to be able to use in an emergency, but you did have to know the code to activate them. Most of these were set up by cities. All the alarms for Boston were pre-programmed to be activated by entering the same digit, "8". Chances were, that if you knew the last digit for the city you were in, you could activate any foam system still working.

So, that day in Boston, I prayed to the fathers, the fire fighters, the hospital administrators, that the code was correct and pulled the alarm.

And it began raining foam.

Although vampires knew about foam fire suppressant systems, most had not seen it, and so didn't know what it did to them in their vampire state. It temporarily blinds everyone, human or vampire, because the opaque foam settles everywhere, so when it covers your eyes you can't see. That can be brushed off, but more importantly: all those little particles interfere with a vampire's ability to smell. Yep, their sniffers wouldn't work.

So when I pulled that alarm, it put a crashing halt to the attack in the room and settled down the vampires. The first common response was that everyone froze. For a few seconds, you couldn't tell the vampires from the human, as everyone was covered in white foam. We all looked like the Michelin man.

Then the vampires started trying to move quickly, to make the foam fly off. But that didn't work, and they started sliding around. Soon the vampires were slipping and falling on their butts.

After I pulled the alarm, I had slid under a table. So I had a great view of the show. Instead of trying to get to somewhere safe, I started laughing. How did it feel, I wanted to yell to them, falling on your butt? Bet you guys haven't done that since you were human!

I felt cold strong arms lifting me, and I thought, _well here I go, and I'm going to die laughing, because I can't stop_. But the chest I was pulled against was shaking with laughter too. I looked up, and looked into the eyes of the biggest vampire I had ever seen, a black man with dreadlocks. "Quiet little one," he said softly, "I must move quickly. You only said what we've all been thinking for years. But now that guy wants to eat you slow."

I nodded and lay still in his arms as he raced outside. He ran across the street and then quickly climbed up the side of a building, holding me in one arm. He stopped in a bell tower.

Crazy came running out of the main doorway of the hospital a few minutes later, foam sticking to her hair and dress. I said her name softly, and she came bounding up the side of the building.

The Rastafarian dude set me down gently along the top of the wall, and quickly backed away, head bowed, showing his hands. He may have been a lot bigger that Crazy, but she was in full fight mode. He had the experience to know that a fight with her would lead to some bodily injury for him, whatever the size difference might be. She grabbed me and ran back down the side of the building.

We stole a Ferrari that was parked along the main street and headed out of town. She pulled out her phone and speed dialed one of the charter pilots she knew. She asked how quickly he could get his plane to Boston, as she and I needed a trip to Disneyland, NOW!

The pilot told her he was in New York City, so he said he could be there soon. We drove to the airport and waited for him, then we boarded the plane after it arrived and had refueled. She had worked with this pilot before, so he knew the drill. When I was going to be on a plane, the pilot and any other vampire flying with us took a deep breath before I got on the plane, and didn't breathe until after I got off at our destination. My scent in an enclosed space, such as an airplane, was just too much for some of these boys.

Once we got on the plane, she was on the phone to the guys who ran Disneyland. They had liked the theme park as humans, and so they maintained it as vampires after the Event. She had a standing arrangement with them to reserve the park for us, so she could bring her human without needing to worry about attacks. They would bring in a cook who would be on standby to make pancakes, lots of pancakes, and they would stock water for me.

We got to Disneyland and went on enough rollercoaster rides so that I had thrown up twice. According to Crazy, we weren't having fun until the human upchucked at least twice. As there were plenty of pancakes to be had, no problem – I just ate again and went on the next ride. We were now back in the hotel and had started the traditional playing of music, waiting for the song "Slow Ride" to come on. When "Slow Ride" started, Crazy would do cannonballs between the beds until at least one bed broke. Then she would call the front desk, complain about the cheap beds, and get us another room. Traditions are traditions, after all.

But just as "Slow Ride" came on, a knock came at the door. Crazy changed her dive mid-air, twisting to land on her feet on the floor. She flashed to the door and opened it, leaving the chain still connected. It always looked kind of funny to me when she did that, since any vampire could bust a door chain, but it was a way of staking territory and showing boundaries. Everybody knew what a door opened with the chain connected meant.

One of my trackers was at the door. Good guys, my regular trackers. I'd known them for several years from the wild. These would be the ones I hadn't had to kill at our first meeting because they wanted to chow down on me.

"Let him in, let him in," I yelled. After all, "Slow Ride" was still playing, but it was going to end soon. And still no bed breaking cannonball dive from Crazy! A tradition was being broken here.

He came in and took in the scene. This time, I was wearing the "Thing 1" t-shirt, and Crazy was wearing the "Thing 2" t-shirt. We always wore these, every trip. There was an on-going negotiation as to who got to be Thing 1. It was clear that for this trip, I had the honor, no question. Being nearly attacked during Manners Training and pulling that fire alarm? Yep, I was the top dog, or Thing 1, today.

After the song ended, we turned off the music, just for a few moments. We knew how to be good hostesses if we had to.

"I'm wondering if either of you might be able to point me in the direction of the human known as Madeleine? Seems there is a $100,000 reward being offered out of Boston for her acquisition," began the tracker.

Crazy and I looked at one another for a moment, and then started a dance. "$100K? You're in the big time now, girl!" she said, to which I replied "I'm important, I'm valuable," and we both went into giggling fits while doing high five hand slaps and bouncing on the beds.

"So it was you two. I guessed as much, things just seem to happen when you two are together," observed the tracker.

"Things? Whatever do you mean?" I demanded.

"Oh, planes falling out of the sky, that kind of thing," he continued, sounding almost bored.

"That plane did NOT fall out of the sky. It was landed on a freeway on purpose. We had a human pilot, so he couldn't land in a traditional airport, the air traffic controller would have realized he wasn't a vampire," I retorted.

"Wasn't that a trans-Pacific flight?" he asked.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" I answered.

"You just proved my point," he drawled.

So we sat down, and he gave is the details on this whole reward thing. It did seem like a lot for a pound puppy like me.

"That's because it's not just for you," replied the tracker. "A key point in this contract is the word 'acquisition', as opposed to 're-acquisition.' Reacquisition means locating a run-away. All of your other contracts have been for re-acquisition, after you left a Human Containment Facility, or wherever you were that time."

"In this type of award set-up, the tracker will generally find it financially simpler to kill the current owner rather than try to negotiate a buying price, which would reduce the amount of the reward. The guy wants one of us to find you two, kill Crazy, and then bring you to him," finished the tracker.

"That bastard," interjected Crazy.

"My thoughts exactly. You ladies need to be careful. Can you tell me what happened in Boston?" he asked.

So we covered the whole manners training debacle with him. Just as we are finishing up, there was another knock at the door. Crazy flashed over to the door, doing the same routine with the chain. And it's another one of my trackers. He walked in and started to greet the first tracker, when his eyes went black. "I need to get some air," he says. My scent in that small room was just too much for him. He had only met me in the wild.

Crazy shoved him out on the balcony and quickly closed the door. We started throwing pillows at the sliding glass door, singing the old Beatles song "It's All Too Much". Crazy actually managed to find that song it on the radio, and so we sang and threw pillows at the balcony door until the tracker got himself together and came back into the room.

He got the same low down as the first tracker. They began to confer, as they thought this reward was too high. It's going to bring out the amateurs, the weekend warriors, and they worry I might get hurt.

Meanwhile, we're trying to figure out why the reward is so high. Most rewards for me have been the standard $5,000 – 10,000. Why so high?

The trackers have an answer for the too. It involves a young lady from Florida.

TO BE CONTINUED…

PLEASE REVIEW, ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET PREVIEWS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER. You want to know about the young lady from Florida, right? And the fate of the Pompous guy offering the $100K?

**Belial – one of the personifications of Satan, or one of four crown princes of hell, or a demon. Sounds like an all-around fun guy.

***"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot": I'm sure everyone knows this song, but if you don't, there is an amazing rendition by Kathleen Battle on the Internet. Just do a search on Swing Low Sweet Chariot Kathleen Battle and it will come up.


	22. Chapter 22 - Manners Training (cont)

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society, and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 22 – Manners Training, and the young lady from Florida

(Bella's POV)

This chapter continues, and will conclude, Bella's memories of Manners Training with Crazy

The question was, why would anyone offer a $100K reward for a human like me?

Turns out, that when Crazy bit Mr. Pompous's shoe, she bit off his big toe and spat it out. She did that at the exact moment I pulled the foam alarm, so the toe was lost in the foam. Since a vampire's sense of smell is blocked by the foam particles, ole Pompous couldn't locate his toe by himself. He had to ask for help. And until they found that toe, they couldn't begin to clean up the foam. Usually big vacuums were brought in to suck up the foam and dispose of it, but a vacuum couldn't be employed with a toe in the mess.

Mr. Pompous got mad, went back to this office, and did what he did best. He decided to pay someone to find me for him. He liked paying people to do things for him.

Unfortunately for him, there had been this young lady in Florida.

Now apparently, she had gotten just really fed up with the drapes in the house she was being kept in, or for whatever other reason she might have had for wanting to leave. Maybe it was because some vampire was keeping her there and sucking the blood out of her on a regular basis? Whatever, humans get so wound up about such things. You would think we would just learn that our blood no longer belongs to us; it belongs to whatever vampire is standing around.

So maybe it was the drapes. For whatever reason, she decided to make a run for it.

Usually, when a human manages to get out of a vampire house, one of several things happens.

First, their vampire owner might come home, notice the person is missing, and think "Ah-ha. I get to play the mighty hunter." He goes outside, tracks down the human and drags him or her back to the house.

Now that's assuming that no other vampire noticed the human when they were outside unescorted. If so, the other vampire may just think "free food", grab them, and for the human it's all over. Not necessarily a bad thing, you could always go thinking "OK, I'm done here – I'm going home, going to see Mom and Dad and Uncle Ned in heaven – this place really stunk, glad I'm leaving."

Or the human might get picked up by the cops, and end up in a pound until the vampire owner retrieves them. All "pets", blood slaves as we humans call the life, are micro chipped before purchased by a vampire. A runaway can be returned to their owner if they are actually turned in, instead of being turned into a nifty snack.

But this young lady had a plan. She had noticed a mail truck that had a regular route. The neighbor's house at the end of the block was the last stop, and then the truck headed out for the freeway.

When she managed to get out of the house she was held in, she grabbed on to the back of the truck. Since it was leaving town, no one saw her right away. She held on tight, and managed to stay on despite the high speed for about 30 miles, and then fell off onto the grass by the road.

But, it isn't the vampires who found her. It was the Seminoles. They took her back into the forest, where she was safe, as long as she stayed with them. She rested a few days, and then told them where she wanted to go.

I don't know where she planned to go, but apparently she needed to get there by boat. The Seminoles left the forest with her, and she went to the docks, accompanied by three Seminoles as hawks, flying in a triangular formation over her. When she got to the boat, one changed back, and took the boat down around the coast, guiding her to her chosen destination.

Meanwhile, her vampire owner posted his Ferrari for her return. This got a lot of attention from both the regular trackers and the guys who went out to chase the occasional big reward. Depending on how the Ferrari was valued, it was worth $70,000 to $90,000. This meant that when Mr. Pompous decided to post a reward for me, he had to outpost the Ferrari guy. So he made his reward an even $100,000. And that's why there was a reward of $100,000 out there for me, after the Boston Manners Training fiasco.

When I finally go to bed, Crazy and the trackers are still talking as I'm drifting off. The owner of Disneyland put on a fireworks display for us, that was a nice touch.

The next morning, the trackers have decided they are going to fly back to the east coast. They were making their final arrangements, and checking their emails, when they gave one another puzzled looks.

Apparently the reward has been withdrawn. This is an interesting development. Did someone else get turned in, and Pompous just accepted her? We weren't getting details, so we contacted the mind-reader.

He came back with an interesting tale. Two of my trackers came to Disneyland to find me. A third tracker didn't bother. He went straight to Boston. He asked to meet with Mr. Pompous, telling his secretary that he was a tracker. He told her that he thought he might have information on the girl's whereabouts, but wanted to make sure of a few details of the physical description.

And apparently, Mr. Pompous was no better at picking bodyguards then he was at fighting. The tracker was allowed to walk right up to his desk. The tracker simply leaned over, removed a highly valued body part, and then jumped out of the window behind the desk, advising Pompous that he would get the body part back when the reward got pulled. And if it was ever posted again, the body part would be removed again, and burned.

So the reward got pulled. I was back to being a pound puppy.

After all of the excitement died down, I got curious about my unknown friend in Florida, so I took a trip south.

I went about 30 miles north of the city the girl had managed to escape from, and started poking around. After a few hours, I notice a rabbit that was letting me get very close to it. Suddenly, the rabbit vanished, and in its place was a man. A very naked man.

"Are you ok, Miss?" he asked.

"Um, I'm ok, but do you think you can pull some clothes out of wherever it was you just came from?" I reply, trying to keep my eyes on the sky, his eyes, the trees…anywhere but his private areas.

We worked something out, clothing wise, and went back to his camp. He was a Seminole, he told me, and his people had the power to shift into the shape of other animals. Unlike the Quilettes, they were able to shift into a variety of animals, he said.

"Has anybody ever gotten stuck, you know, in animal form?" I wanted to know.

"There's a story about a young warrior, two generations ago, who was supposed to have eaten some food while in rabbit form. At least, he never came back to camp, not in human form. But a rabbit did, and the rabbit followed his sister around like a little cat. She claimed it was her brother, and kept the rabbit with her at all times. She insisted her older brother take the rabbit to council meetings. At first, most of the younger tribe members thought she had gone crazy in her grief, but the older ones thought she might be right. He did nod and shake his rabbit head, for yes and no, and he could indicate numbers by scratches on the ground.

After the rabbit had lived for ten years, they began to accept that he probably was the missing human. The rabbit lived another fifty years, and attended all council meetings. He died shortly after his sister."

I shook my head at this story, and then we made it to his camp. I met with the rest of his people, and also got the story on the young woman, whose name had been Gail. I gave them the latest news from the resistance and the other colonies, and then started traveling west.

PLEAE READ AND REVIEW. ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET TEASERS FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER.


	23. Chapter 23 - Lovely Home

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 23 – "Lovely Home"; Garrett meets my doll

(Bella's POV)

**Author's note - yeah, in this chapter, Bella acts a bit like a brat. She is a teenager, after all.**

Now that Manners Training was over, Carlisle tells me that the DeNali clan is due for a return visit. I had met the DeNali coven once before, as they had been at the house the night that Carlisle brought me home. Good, I'll show them my nice new manners.

Eleazar and Carmen, Garrett and Kate, and Tanya arrive in late September. They are on their way back north to their home in Alaska after all their travels, including their most recent trip to Volterra Italy.

As they arrive, Carmen hugs Esme and comments on Esme's lovely home.

Uh-oh, she said "lovely home." Carlisle has me standing by his side, and my eyes go wide. I'm trying not to laugh, but I can't help it, that phrase has a different meaning to me. Carlisle glances down, and I suppress a laugh and try to make a face at Emmett.

Eventually I manage to peel myself away as Carlisle sighs and releases me to run to Emmett. I mouth to him, "Tell me a joke, anything, I don't care how bad it is, I need something to laugh at."

He actually does a Knock-Knock joke. I'm gonna throttle him.

I burst out laughing, completely inappropriate to the stale joke, but I really need to laugh. I'm not shielding how I feel, so Jasper picks it up my giddiness and starts projecting it to the group. Everyone is smiling, and Jasper is gazing at me with a puzzled look on his face.

I try to explain. "She said 'lovely home'. And this is a lovely home, of course, but she said 'lovely home'!" Emmett looked puzzled; the others are listening.

"You see, there's this vampress. She was turned rather young. She was in a field on the family property when she saw one of her cousins being attacked, so she rushed to help him carrying a scythe. It didn't end well for her, and soon she was dying. Her family raced to the field, with her mother and aunts crying hysterically over her body as she bled from her wounds.

It turns out that all the ruckus caught a local vampire's attention. Now he just happened to be her grandfather, a few 'great's' back, so he came and grabbed her, carried her into the forest, and changed her. She's lived with him ever since.

At the time Grandpa was changed, he had already been married and had children while he was human. The vampress was only 17, so she had yet to find and experience true love. And in grandpa's opinion, that was not a good thing for a young lady. He was determined to find her vampire true love.

But our vampress wasn't as interested. As a human, she had run with the boys and shocked the neighbors by climbing trees among other outdoor activities, wearing trousers under her skirts. As a vampire, Grandpa was having trouble turning her into a proper young lady.

Every day he put a bow in her hair and made sure she had on a nice skirt. And as soon as she got out of the house, she put slacks on under her skirt and carried on as usual. And every night she came home with her hair bow askew and her skirt crumpled from the pants she had been wearing under it.

But Grandpa was determined to find her true love. 'Love is an essential part of a young lady's life,' he liked to tell her. 'I want you to experience love in this life, as you died too young to experience it as a human.'

'I've got you to boss me around, old man,' she would retort. 'I don't need some guy running after me with his tongue hanging out. Anyways, I don't see anyone lined up for the job.'

But Grandpa was determined. So he started inviting suitors to the house. Now, she always seemed to get wind of when someone was there. She would always show up at the house when Grandpa had brought a suitor, hair bow askew, dragging a freshly severed deer head across the floor. The gentleman caller would invariably murmur something about 'lovely home', and quickly take his leave.

But this one time, there weren't any deer to be found. There had, however, been this rogue grizzly bear causing problems in the area for the local humans. So on this occasion she came dragging in the head and upper forearm of this grizzly bear…and the potential suitor ran out the door without saying 'lovely home.'

Grandpa looked stern, but was heard mumbling under his breath 'pussy city boy'."

"So when Carmen said 'lovely home' to Esme just now, I couldn't help but look around, wondering where's the deer head? " And with that I dissolved in laughter. Even Jasper was snickering quietly.

This was the start of a nice visit.

Carlisle had been interested to hear about my "college" experience. I wouldn't give up the names of my friends from the Dartmouth campus, after all, the house wasn't filled with just friendlies, and there were mind-reading cops in Forks. The fewer names were used, the better.

I knew that Carlisle and Edward had been discussing teaching me how to read, before I revealed the resistance's return to oral traditions in order to preserve and pass on human knowledge. Now that the Cullens knew I was able to read and had taken college courses, they wanted to see what I needed to do to continue working on the Master's in History. I gave them my reading list, and they ordered the books that weren't already in Carlisle's library.

I would read the books and discuss them with the family. I preferred to talk to Carlisle, when he was home, but since he worked long hours as a doctor, Edward and Jasper became my tutors. I would show them the drafts of my papers, they would write comments, and then I would get the cousins to send them off to the college professors.

Eleazar was as interested in the human return to oral traditions as Carlisle was. He had spent some time in Volterra, as had Carlisle. But he was a human sympathizer, who only drank animal blood. Eleazar's coven may have just returned from Volterra, but the mind-reader confirmed that Eleazar was not a regular visitor. He had been summoned by the Volturi, mainly to check for gifts in humans. I was quite sure that he wouldn't have another summons before the Insurgency, so I was willing to talk to him.

I told him how free humans living in the wilderness had memorized various works of literature, religion, science and history, so as to be able to carry them with us safely from place to place. This worked for two reasons. First we couldn't carry libraries of books with us through the wilderness from campsite to campsite. More importantly, since we weren't supposed to be able to read, any human found carrying books risked immediate death. If we were only captured instead of killed, there was a chance for either escape or rescue by an ally.

Eleazar and Carlisle talked about times when most of the population had not been literate, and how some teachings of the church were done using stained glass windows. When commoners needed to send letters, they had to pay someone to write for them, and then the recipient probably had to pay someone else to read the letter to them. I loved listening to their stories; I always liked hearing the details of how people had lived throughout human history. How we had lived before living meant compulsory imprisonment or an existence spent on the run in the Wilderness between the ccupied cities.

That afternoon, Carlisle and Eleazar left to go hunting after I had finished eating lunch. It was one of the lunches Carlisle like to make, consisting of a tuna salad sandwich, an orange, and a small waldorf salad. That lunch had more fruit than I probably would have gotten in a year on the Human Containment Facility. I had argued unsuccessfully for a sandwich made of smashed taco chips topped with a generous sprinkling from a few Pixie sticks, but Carlisle had just rolled his eyes and grabbed the tuna from the cupboard.

When Carlisle and Eleazar left I climbed up on the kitchen counter and started rummaging through the cabinets, looking for the sweets. Where did Carlisle hide them? I turned around to find a smirking Jasper leaning against the kitchen door, so I jumped down and flounced off into the living room.

In the living room, Tanya was sitting by the window, looking at fashion magazines with Alice and Rosalie. Emmett was watching sports with Edward, and Esme was playing cards with Carmen. Garrett was sitting alone, staring absently at a marble chess board, twirling a chess piece in his hand.

Knowing that Garret was an ally, I decided to show him my doll. Many allies didn't have the details of our daily lives in confinement, and the story of my doll carried a lot of information about life on the camps as well as my mother's quiet resistance methods of resistance while in custody.

"Would you like to see my doll?" I asked.

He put down the chess piece he had been fiddling with and said, "Of course."

I pulled her out of her bag and unwrapped the dishtowel I keep her wrapped in.

"My mother made her for me," I began. "She made her from a scrap of her wedding dress. Making these dolls had been a tradition in our family. The belt is from her flower girl's bouquet, and the button eyes are buttons from my grandmother's boots. A piece of my mother's wedding is veil is inside, within the quilting material used as stuffing. That's why she doesn't bend, and why she kind of 'crinkles' when you handle her."

Almost on cue, I heard Rosalie making a snide remark in a low voice in Vampiri. "Esme found that doll for her at the grocery store. She started that story the day Esme gave it to her."

The mind reader relayed the crack to me, and I looked at Garrett. His eyes had shot over my shoulder to Rosalie, and now were back on me, but his smile had changed. He leaned forward, though, still appearing interested.

So I mouthed the rest of the story to him.

"My mother made this for me before the Event of 2020, shortly after she was married, when she first learned she was pregnant. She left it behind when she was taken from her home during the Gathering. I wasn't her first child; I was her second.

She told me about the doll she left behind, though. She told me many things in the semi-dark, windowless concrete cell block we lived in. All the adults talked about their pasts. They went into great details about the lives: their families, their holidays, their school years, and their weddings. They wanted us to know there was a world beyond these walls, and they wanted to keep from forgetting themselves. Without books or anything from the outside, their memories were all they had.

My mother had learned sign language in school. She made it her mission to teach the children the alphabet using sign language. When the guards decided to stop her, she knelt on the floor before them; her head bowed, and said 'I am teaching them a game that they can play quietly, lord.' The guards were never quite sure if this might be breaking the rules, but in the end they let her do it. After all, we didn't have books to read. What was the harm of a children's game?

She told me many things. She describe in great detail the route the bus had taken from her house to the Human Containment Facility, so that once I got out, I could find my way home. She made sure I understood numbers, tracing them on my leg so I could learn their shapes. She told me the freeway numbers, and what to do once I got to town. I had been able to recite the directions, where to turn right and turn left, in order to get to our house. I had that house number memorized as a small child. She wanted me to understand that just because I was born and grew up in this cinderblock hell hole, that didn't make it my home. There was another place waiting for me beyond its walls.

So when I did get out, I returned to our family home. I found the house just as she described it. One of her wedding gifts from her father had been a new roof, so the house was in surprisingly good shape. But the doll was not on the rocking chair. I started to panic, but then searched the room. Some of the rooms were in disarray. Although the small house wasn't nice enough for a vampire to take over, all the houses had been searched to find anything of interest. The doll had been knocked under the dresser.

So I found my doll, over a decade after my mother had made her for me. Then an ally planted her in that store in Forks so Esme would find her and bring her to me."

Garrett's eyes had been glued to my lips during my story. Jasper moved behind him, so I ducked my head and stopped talking. I looked up, smiled at Garrett, and said out loud, "Thank you for listening."

Jasper led me away from Garrett, over to our usual spot by the fireplace. I guess the feelings coming off of Garrett troubled him.

"What did you tell him?" Jasper asked.

"I just told him the story of my doll," I replied.

"Why didn't you say it loud enough for the rest of us to hear?" he questioned.

"Because, just like the first time I told the story, a vampress made a snarky rude remark, questioning whether I was telling the truth. No one countered her or asked me to continue. And I don't give second chances with my true stories," I said firmly.

"Well, I would like to hear it," said Jasper.

"Not now," I answer quietly. "You're only interested because I told Garrett." I went over to sit with Edward and Emmett and bet one of my shiny new dimes on the results of the game they were watching.

Eleazar and Carlisle came back from their hunt a few hours later. While the others were playing one of the Monopoly games I had brought from the basement, Carlisle and Jasper pulled me aside. "Is something bothering you, sweetheart?" asked Carlisle.

"No more than the usual," I replied.

Carlisle thought on that. "I understand you told Garrett a story about your doll that upset him greatly. Will you tell me that story?"

"I started that story twice, and was cut off each time by a vampress, so I'm not interested in continuing," I answered.

"Honey, Garrett was a guest; I'm kind of curious why you would tell him something you wouldn't tell us," queried Carlisle.

"If Garret was upset, it was because he's a good man. In my mind, he is an ally because of his work with the Intuits in Denali. It's been a while since I had a chance to talk to an ally. I was describing life on the living death camps. Most of you seem shocked when you hear details about it. I don't know why you would; what did you think it was like there? You and Edward don't need to be told, you both work on them. You know the details of our existence there, you don't need to know the exact details of my incarceration," I reply.

Carlisle bowed his head, thinking. "If something is troubling you, I want you to feel you can come to me. You said a vampress made a remark? Did you mean Rosalie or Alice, or one of the visitors?"

"I don't use the name of a vampire unless they explicitly give me their permission. The two vampresses who visit are your daughters, have lived with you for years, and will continue to live with you long after my death. They don't speak in human to me in part because they are obeying the rules. If a vampire doesn't want to break the rules by speaking to me in human, I respect that choice. They think that could be a source of trouble to your family because of the police. I don't mean to create trouble in or for your coven," I tell him.

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	24. Chapter 24 - Impromptu Visit from Leah

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 24 – An impromptu visit from Leah

(Bella's POV)

Later, Garrett came back to me, appearing troubled. Garrett has asked Carlisle if he can speak to me alone, and Carlisle has refused. He never allowed me to be anywhere without himself or Jasper present.

But when we were outside, and I was stacking the pinecones that Jasper and Emmett kept bringing to me, Garrett came over quietly and sat next to me on the patio.

"Emmett says you are in the Resistance," he began. "Is Carlisle keeping you, um, not prisoner exactly, but - sequestered in the house, I mean for your own safety?" he hastily adds.

"No, I actually got kicked out of the Resistance," I told him. "Well, more specifically I was ordered to stand down and cease all liberation activities by the Human Council. I was also ordered to find a home. I met Carlisle, and during the short time I spent with him, I found liked being with him and decided to stay. The Human Council said find a home-they did not say with whom."

"You've been active in the Resistance movement? And there is an organized leadership, this Human Council?" Garrett asked, getting excited.

I smiled. "Yes, and they thank you for your aid to the Inuit tribe."

Garrett is visibly started. "How did you know about that? Did Carlisle tell you?"

"No, he didn't. But we don't have so many allies that we can't keep track, and we haven't had the opportunity to thank you in the past," I answer.

"What can you tell me," he asks breathlessly. "Who is on the council, where are they? Do they have a strategy?"

"I can't tell you their location, as they all live separately for security purposes. There are multiple strategies and actions, but one main goal. They are trying to negotiate with Aro Volturi for two things. They want all humans in vampire custody released, and they want the restoration of human law."

"That's a tall order," sighs Garrett. "What has been Aro's response?"

"Not surprisingly, he won't dignify those he considers food with a response," I replied. "He has been told much in the past few years that should matter greatly to your people, and he has yet to respond. In order to force a meeting and prove the Human Council's seriousness, we told him we would execute two members of his guard a month ago. He did not reply, and the Council ordered the deaths of the guard members Felix and Demetri."

Garrett gasped, and said, "That was you, as in the Resistance? Volterra was still abuzz with the deaths of long time and well-known guard members when we were there. Other vampires were jockeying to be chosen as replacements."

"We then told him that we would give him a few weeks to reconsider meeting with us," I continued, "and then we would execute two more members, Chelsea and Renata. He let that deadline pass as well, so both Chelsea and Renata died last night."

Now Eleazar was listening. "We saw them both, in their usual positions, as we took our leave at court the day before yesterday," he interjected.

"They died last night," I answered. "Aro has now been told he meets with our Council, or he loses Jane and Alec next week."

All of the vampires have gone from pretending not to be eavesdropping to openly listening.

"What is the goal here? The elimination of Aro's court?" asks Carmen.

"There are those on the Human Council who think you should all die," I reply. "You pose too much of a threat if you continue, since what you did in 2020 you could do again. But there are those of us think that some of you are O.K., as obviously without our allies we wouldn't have made it this far. So the puzzle becomes what to do with you?"

"What to do with us? You can't DO anything with us," Rosalie snarled, addressing me in human for the first time ever. "You went down almost without a fight 20 years ago."

"We didn't go down without a fight. We fought with inadequate weapons," I answered calmly. "Vampires like Jasper used the public act of killing our fighters, those who dared oppose them, as a method to force the others to surrender. And I believe at least one human was killed for that reason in every large group," I said without waiting for Jasper's confirmation. "We've learned quite a bit since. You're not invulnerable, and your hubris adds nicely to your vulnerability."

"Then why are you here, living with us in Forks?" snapped Rosalie.

"Because I like being with Carlisle," I answered.

"This is just more b.s. If anything like this was really going on, the Volturi would have told us. They wouldn't let us just die without warning," said Rosalie firmly.

"Wouldn't they? This is all possible because of a mistake Aro made, one that makes him look bad. How far will he go to keep it quiet?" I answered.

Carlisle looks as if he is about to say something, but his phone rings. He looks at the caller i.d, sighs, and says he has to leave, he has a patient. Once he is gone, I don't want to discuss the matter anymore. I've said more than enough.

I could tell that Carlisle and Garrett probably believed me, but I didn't think the others took me seriously. They did not think any of what I was saying was possible.

The next day I helped rake leaves. Well, raked and jumped in the piles Emmett had made. Everything was fun when Emmett was around. After we had been running around for a few hours, playing tag and having pinecone wars, Carlisle finally came home and dragged me back inside. He had lit a fire in the huge fireplace in the living room and had warmed up the apple cider that had been sent with the day's food order. It smelt like heaven in the living room.

I was sitting by the fire, when I felt a vampire approaching the patio. There were enough vampires around with all the visitors that I just took a quick glance over my shoulder to see who was coming.

This was a newcomer. Her hair was short and cropped, and her eyes and skin were very tan. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief as she peeked in at me.

I gestured for her to open the door. As I looked at her slim, lithe figure, I whispered, "This could only be Leah. Come here, you."

She opened the door quietly and slipped in next to me. "Well, there's no mistaking you, either!"

"My scent? " She nods, so I continue. "Am I really 'peachy' smelling?"

"Yes," she giggles. I'm playing with the jacks my grandfather left for me. She started playing too, but she was winning because her hand-eye coordination is better.

Leah decided to try to find strategies to handicap herself, like doing a backflip after throwing the ball. Eventually, she found just the right gymnastic move to execute after her tosses of the ball so that we were almost evenly matched.

We started talking. "So, are these the jacks from your mother's house?" Leah asked.

"Yes, these are the jacks my grandfather bought in case my mother's child was a boy," I replied. "They were in the doll's pocket when the Ally sent her to me."

"Can I see the doll?" she asked. I held out the doll for her to view. "She's beautiful," she commented, stroking her boot button eyes and fingering her belt made of ribbon.

"She's made from a scrap of my mother's wedding dress," I told her, though I knew she had probably heard the strore from my cousins. "When I went back to the house, I couldn't find her right away, as she wasn't on the rocking chair the way my mother described having left her. I started to freak out, but Crazy helped me stay focused. She was lying under a dresser, just a few feet away," I said, as I picked up the jacks from my toss.

Leah tossed the ball, as it was now her turn. "I'm glad you found her. Been back to the house lately?" she asked casually.

I glanced at her quickly. I could tell from her expression she knew what I keep in that house. I don't care, as that bastard husband of my mother's sold her on July 1st, 2020. Now he stays in my house, or rather his head does, as I burnt the rest of his body in front of him. He gets fed the blood of a frog by the gardener once a week, so he won't starve. "No, but someone is keeping up the garden. Mother told me about her dreams for her garden, so every year I try putting in some of those plants. I haven't been able to actually live there, since it's an occupied city, and Crazy is always traveling."

Leah laughed at this, so I quickly added, "She's not a nomad, as that's not allowed any more. Her job requires that she travel up to 50 weeks a year." I tried not to sound defensive.

Jasper and Edward were suddenly in front of us, startled that a newcomer has entered the house without their knowledge. I wondered if this is somehow a gift of Leah's. I introduced her.

"Jasper Whitlock, this is Leah," I stated.

"Pleasure, ma'am. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in," he drawled.

"She's quiet as a mouse. Most people only notice her when she comes dragging in with a deer's head," I started, but Leah elbowed me, giggling.

"This girl and I have spent years just hearing about each other, so I thought it was time we met in person," Leah said.

"Lots of male vampires down here, maybe you'll find that ever so elusive mate?" I interjected, earning another elbow from Leah.

"Ah, so this is the young lady from the story," said Carmen with a smile.

"Yep, sometimes my stories are true," I tell her. Leah and I go back to our game of jacks. "How did you get here?" I asked.

"I ran," she answered casually.

I gasped in surprise. "All the way from Home? Isn't that hundreds of miles?"

"It was a long way. But not the furthest I've gone," Leah said softly. "When I was first woke up after being changed, I started running. The boys followed me, but it turns out that I'm faster than any of the boys. I didn't want to leave Home though, so I just ran laps around the property. They started waiting for me at spots along my route, and each of the boys would run with me for a little ways, so I wouldn't be alone. I was hurting and didn't understand what was happening, so I just hurled myself forward. I must have run for months, I wore a track around the property.

I remember very little from those months, except that there were a few times when Grandpa and Luther waited for me," she continued. "Grandpa in particular hurled himself at me, trying to grab me, and I would let him catch and hold me. He would stroke my hair and tell me it was going to be ok, and after a while, I would start running again. But I never left the property; where would I go?

Then I thought about you being down here. So…I decided to drop in!" she said excitedly, her eyes glowing from the flames of the fireplace.

"And the boys?" I ask as casually as possible. If Leah's brothers show up, I have no doubt but that the Cullen and DeNali males will go into full defensive mode. There were a lot of females, both human and vampire, in this living room.

"Oh, I think Rodrigo grabbed a few of the boys and came after me. I'll bet they're pissed, they didn't think I would come this far. Rodrigo is like my big brother. He's from my side of the family and was my guide as a newborn," she said with a smile.

I had heard about Rodrigo. All the Home boys were trained fighters. Papa, or Grandpa as the human side of the family called him, had chosen the human boys to change based on their fighting abilities. Their job as vampires was to guard their human family. Papa was over 600 years old, and had been changing a family member about every other generation for the past six hundred years. Leah was the only female vampire member of the Home coven.

Rodrigo was the best pure fighter of the group. He wasn't a strategist. He was all fighter: he loved to fight and reveled in it. Luther, who at age 550 was the oldest of the boys, may have been the coven strategist, but Rodrigo was the one to lead the charge.

Leah doesn't bring up my cousins explicitly. There are too many visitors at the Cullen's house tonight. There is no reason to let anyone know about the six girls and three children related to me living with the Home coven. My family is the only outside group of humans taken in by the Home coven.

"How far behind you do you think they are? Will they catch up tonight?" I asked her.

"Oh, probably in a few hours," Leah answered.

We started gossiping about family, both hers and mine. I've seen so much through my cousins' eyes, that I feel like I've lived on the Home coven property. My cousins were taken back to the Home coven compound six few weeks after I escaped the Human Containment Facility. They've lived in safety with the coven the entire time I was in the resistance. I owed Papa's coven a lot for my peace of mind, since I could focus on my resistance activities without having to worry about my family's safety.

Leah lead off with some juicy stuff. "Did you hear about what happened with Rodrigo when Hope had the baby?"

"A little. I heard he told papa he wanted to stay with her," I answered.

"Right. And that lasted to the moment of the first contraction. Then Rodrigo pushed Hope into a corner and dropped into a protective crouch in front of her. The midwife looked at Papa and said, 'I thought you were locking him in a refrigerated rail car for this happy event?' Papa signaled four of the boys, and they got him away from her by pulling off his arms," she said.

"What? No!" I exclaimed, shocked.

"Yep. The boys dragged Rodrigo off to a shed they had been working on for just this occasion," Leah went on. "They had installed a large screen TV, and they planned to watch the Indiana Jones movies to pass the time. They plunked Rodrigo down in the middle of the sofa, hissing and snarling at them, and held his arms out of his reach. They started the movies, but Rodrigo quickly destroyed the sofa, so they all sat on the ground. When they ran out of Indian Jones movies, they put on some Dr. Who episodes."

"Which ones, the episodes with Tom Baker as the Doctor?" I asked excitedly.

"Are there any others worth watching? Well, finally, after the baby was born, and Hope was cleaned up, Papa sent for him. So the boys gave him back his arms and quickly jumped out of his reach into some nearby trees. He snarled his promises to dismember them in the direction of the trees and took off to find Hope," Leah continued.

"Rodrigo got to the door of the Home clinic, and there was Papa waiting outside with his arms crossed. 'You have to be able to say something to me, using human words, before you can go in there,' Papa told him. There was a lot of snarling, but poor Rodrigo was trying hard. Eventually he stammered out a few phrases, most containing rather vivid descriptions of what he planned to do with the boys who had kept him away from Hope the night before," she added.

I laughed at that and shuddered, as Rodrigo in a rage would be a sight to scare even a seasoned vampire fighter.

"But Papa decided what Rodrigo said was good enough and let him in the door," Leah continued. "After all, Hope was exhausted and couldn't sleep without him, plus she wanted to show him the baby. Rodrigo raced over to Hope, and Papa and a few more of the boys followed closely. If he made a move towards the baby, which was after all the thing that had hurt Hope, they were prepared to grab him to protect the baby. But the couple were ok, and the three fell asleep together, Hope holding the baby, and Rodrigo holding Hope," Leah concluded.

All the vampires in the room had gathered into a semi-circle behind us. We glanced up and stared into a sea of gold and red eyes.

"I didn't know we had an audience," Leah said in a small voice.

"Sorry to eavesdrop," said Carlisle. "Your story was so fascinating we were all drawn to you. I'm Carlisle Cullen, by the way. This is my home."

Leah bowed her head, and he held out a hand to her. She looked up at him, and grasped it, flashing her shy smile. Then she turned back to me.

Leah and I talked for a few more hours, losing track of the time. Suddenly, I feel the arrival of more vampires, across the river. They are about five miles out and are just entering the periphery of my vision.

"How many would be coming for you?" I asked, sitting up from my comfy pillow in front of the fireplace.

"How many do you see?" asks Leah, standing up quickly.

"There are four, moving in a v formation, with one leading," I replied, concentrating on the moving shadows of my vision.

"That's Rodrigo, but I don't know who he has with him. How far out?" she asked, peering out the patio door. "I can't see anything because of the trees."

"Less than five miles and closing. They just crossed the river. They are coming straight for the house," I answered.

"Who's coming?" asked Jasper and Emmett almost simultaneously.

"It's just Leah's brothers. They are probably, um, concerned that she left Home without advising anyone of her travel plans," I answered.

Leah rolled her eyes. "I'm 250 years old. I should be able to go where I want."

"You've got macho older and younger brothers, who are overprotective vampires to boot," I retorted. "Don't think they will ever look at your leaving the safety of the property that way. And you know, it's not safe for a female vampire to be traveling alone. As human girls are getting harder to buy, the brothels are taking vampresses now, against their will."

There is a collective gasp. "Who told you that?" asked Eleazar, forgetting he was speaking to me directly. Carlisle snarled at him, and Eleazar quickly ducked his head.

"As a freedom fighter, I freed brothels," I said slowly, considering my words carefully. "Over half of the brothels had vampresses on the premises for the brothel clients. We would find them locked in a room, generally with their arms, and occasionally their lower jaw, removed. They were being held there against their will, the same as the human girls. Only the vampresses had been kidnapped, whereas most of the human girls had been bought from the living death camps. It was a strategy problem for us. We always firebombed the properties after getting the human girls out. What should we do with the half-starved vampresses? If we removed their chains, they would immediately attack the human girls we were trying to rescue. We had to start bringing extra allies just to handle these poor vampresses."

Just then, Rodrigo and the boys arrive. We could see their silhouettes crossing the short distance from the trees to the back yard fence. Rodrigo was the first through the patio door, arriving as silently as Leah. He was impressive, wearing his leather jacket and dark slacks. He had dark hair and eyes, same as Leah. He was also in full fight mode. Leah gets up and quickly walks to him, with her head bowed, hands in front of her in placating gesture. He pulls her behind him. The other three vampires form a triangle around her and then stand waiting for Rodrigo to signal them.

Leah grinned at me from between them, reassuringly, but the male vampires in the room weren't reassured. They instantly moved into defensive positions. Carlisle and Jasper stood over me, with Jasper directly in front of me. Emmett, Edward and Garrett moved the Cullen and visiting vampresses to the far corner of the room and stood in front of them. Eleazar took his place next to Carlisle, the two of them facing Rodrigo.

The stare down between Rodrigo on one side, and Eleazar and Carlisle on the other, continued for a tense moment. Finally Rodrigo took another glance at me and then decided to back out onto the patio. The entire Home coven moved fluidly as a group. That they had trained together for centuries was clear from the coordinated motions.

As they were leaving, Leah whispered, "Combo to the front door?" to me.

I whispered back, "1663cc". (1663 was the year Carlisle was turned, and cc was for Carlisle Cullen, my reason to be in Forks). Leah flashes another grin, and they are gone.

"What lock?" asked Jasper, turning to look at me.

"Papa bought a house here in Forks after I arrived. They haven't seen it yet, but I selected the entry code combination," I answered.

"Why did they take a house here?" asked Edward.

"After Carlisle brought me here, they thought they might visit. And if anything ever happened, they wanted me to have a safe place to go to, until they could come pick me up," I answered.

"In other words, if you ever wanted to run away," said Tanya.

"If I wanted to run away, I would just go to the west side of the freeway, and the Quilettes would pick me up. They know I'm here," I replied quietly.

There were collective gasps, and Emmett asked, "You know about our local werewolves?"

"I know about resistance allies," I replied. "The Quileutte wolves are strong allies. There are shifters across the nation who have helped shelter us. Why wouldn't I know about the wolves? They actually had to be told that not only was here, but that I was here by choice. After all, this house is well within Quileutte retrieval range. They could have come for me and killed anyone who stood in there way, at any time since I arrived."

Carlisle stroked his head from the back to the front, and said quietly "Well, you are full of surprises tonight. I did enjoy meeting your friend. It's late, though, and time for bed."

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	25. Chapter 25 - Story of Medal (1st Op)

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 25 – the Medal, and story of my first op

(Bella's POV)

The next morning, Leah came back to say good-bye before returning home. She had managed to convince Rodrigo to wait to leave until after I got up. Rodrigo and the boys stayed out on the patio, exchanging threatening stances with Jasper, Emmett, and Garrett.

I rolled my eyes and talked to Leah. Carlisle stayed next to me, and Eleazar casually placed himself between the Carlisle and the door.

Alice and Rosalie managed to take all of the DeNali coven ladies shopping, so Esme was the only vampress left in the house.

Leah lipped to me that she wanted to ask me about my medal. I motioned it was OK to talk.

"So, did you really get a medal while you were in the resistance?" Leah asked me.

"I kind of got it after I got kicked out. It was just before I went to Chicago," I replied.

The word "medal" got Rodrigo's attention, so he and Jasper made some kind of temporary truce, and all seven vampires came trooping into the living room from the patio.

"Yeah, tell us about that medal," Rodrigo said. "Luther told me you got one, but wouldn't go into the story. All he would say was that you got the only medal that had been awarded by the Human Council during the war to date."

I smiled and bit the inside of my cheek for a minute, thinking. "I hear it started with a toast that the freedom fighters came up with in my honor. They would say the toast, raise their shot glasses, drink, then toss their glasses into the fire."

Jasper rolled his eyes.

"The toast apparently went: To Girls Who Shoot Vampires in the…" I left the final word off.

"You did what?" asked Emmett with a chuckle.

I settled in to tell them my story.

"It started with my first true op. My C.O. (commanding officer) had called, and reported that a hunter had captured an entire colony, and the resistance had located his lodge. Freedom fighters were being dispatched for a liberation mission. If I could get to the location on time, he would tell them they had to take me on the mission.

'Now, be aware,' he warned me, 'they won't want to take you. Not only are you a girl, but you're too young. But I'm going to order them to take you along. I want you to observe and give me your impressions of the mission and tactics. Please don't make me regret sending you,' he said solemnly over the phone.

So I stole a truck, and got to the location as fast as I could. It was only a six hour drive; I arrived at about 4:00 in the afternoon. Apparently the rescue party was composed of specialists from several teams, so they had just begun to assemble when I arrived. The leader of the freedom fighters was a veteran of the last human war before the event. He had been in hiding since 2020, working to build the resistance army by training the colony members and other men who had eluded vampire custody on military tactics ever since. This was going to be my first experience with a trained military group. After all the months of traveling through the wild, I felt I had finally made it. I would be going out on a true mission as a freedom fighter.

The colony members were trying to give their food to the freedom fighters, and the freedom fighters were trying to give the colonies their MRE's (Meals, Ready to Eat, which were the field rations put out by the U.S. military for troops). The two groups eventually settled on an exchange of food, and they all sat down to eat together. The colony members ate the MRE's, the fighters ate the colony's beans and soup. After everyone had exchanged pleasantries, they started getting down to business.

The colony leader gave the freedom fighters the location of the hunter's lodge, which was believed to be where the people captured during the vampire's raid had been taken. It was in a densely wooded area surrounded by rolling hills, not far from our location.

The colony leader turned to look at me as I entered the gathering, and the freedom fighter leader shook his head slightly. My C.O. had been right, they didn't want me there. But, one of the men came over to me and started putting camouflage paint on my face.

I asked if I could have a mirror, so that I would know how to do my own paint in the future. The man stopped, smirked at me, said, 'You're not going to the prom, sweetie," and then continued with his work. I stifled the smart reply I wanted to shoot back at him and sat still for a few minutes. After he was done, he stood back to review his work.

'Do we know if vampires can smell the paint?' I asked.

''We don't hang around with vampires, asking them questions. We kill them,' snapped the same guy, to low snickers from the rest of the group. Just as well, I thought. If they knew how my scent attracted vampires like the ringing of a dinner bell, they would have legitimate reasons to oppose my inclusion in their little rescue operation.

The face painter and I returned to the main group. They were in a tent, bent over a map spread across a portable table, so I walked over to look at what they were doing. They were looking at a topographic map, showing the terrain around the hunter's house. I've never seen one of these in use, so I was fascinated. The leader looked up, and noticed the rapt look on my face.

'You're to stay with the group,' he ordered. 'We will need to move fast when it comes to the fight, so you will stay with the equipment, either outside or inside the lodge, wherever I deem the safest place. There will be no talking, no asking questions once we are on the road. Do you understand these directions?' he asked me.

I nodded. No use ticking them off, if I was going to join them, I would have to show I could take directions.

'We leave in 5 minutes,' said the leader to the group.

This startled me. 'We're going now? We'll be entering the woods at twilight,' I commented.

'That's correct. We have information on their schedule: they are having an event, and we want to arrive while they are distracted,' the leader answered. 'Only one of us knows the details of their event, so if they have a mind-reader, they won't be able to get as much information from us if the op doesn't go as planned.'

'But the breeze picks up at twilight; it will blow our scent ahead of us…' I began.

'Are you coming or not?' asked the leader. 'If you have any doubts, you should stay here, and let us handle this. We have experience in these matters.'

Well, I was going, so I just shook my head.

We loaded into the cars and drove as close to the house as we could. Then we left the cars on the side of the road, to walk the rest of the way. Since by their own admission these men didn't talk to vampires, they didn't know about my scent. I decided to slip off and go around the hills, so I would arrive at the house upwind instead of downwind. No use giving away our presence by my scent. The noise those men were making while they were moving through the woods, supposedly sneaking up on the house, seemed very loud to me. I was used to moving quietly, alone, and these men carrying all this equipment sounded rather loud to me.

I motioned I needed to go to the bathroom, and the rescue party stopped. As soon as I was out of sight, I slipped off my heavy gear, and took off down the hill.

I could hear some rustling behind me as one of the men tried to follow me, but I was faster and quicker than they were, so I lost them.

As I walked, circling to come back up another hill, I thought I heard something moving in the brush under the trees. I stopped and positioned myself next to a tree so that there was a small open space in front of me. Whatever it was, it was a large animal, but it wasn't a vampire, because there were still animal noises around me. When there was a vampire, all animal noises stopped. The only sound would be the rustling of the breeze in the trees.

Whatever this animal was, it was big. I didn't think it was a bear, as it wasn't making enough noise. It was too big large be a cougar, though. Suddenly, something huge stepped out from between the trees, and into the moonlit space in front of me. It was an enormous cat, and it had stripes. I was looking at a tiger.

'Great,' I thought, 'what's more rare, a human or a tiger? Should I let this beautiful animal kill me? Beat the vampires by letting a mortal predator end my life?'

We stared at one another, and then the tiger crouched slightly and leaned towards me. It moved its head to look to the left. I reached out slowly and touched its fur. It was soft. I leaned forward and put my head against its chest. The tiger turned to glance at me and then went back to looking over its shoulder. For just an instant, I could hear its breathing and heartbeat. It was an amazing sensation. Then the tiger leapt away.

I later learned that the hunter had pulled a 'vampire mine' at the Berlin Zoo. He had seen this tiger and decided he wanted it. So, he just took it with him when he left the zoo. He chartered a plane to fly it back across the Atlantic Ocean to his retreat in Ohio. He let the tiger out at night, just as if it were a housecat, and then chased it down at dawn each day. It never came with him willingly; it always fought him, growling and trying to tear at his body with its huge paws. But the vampire just carried it home, and held it between his legs while he brushed the tiger's coat.

And of course, when I leaned against the tiger, I had smeared the camouflage paint on my face, so I went to a stream and scrubbed it off the rest off as best I could without a mirror or soap. I later found that while I had managed to clean most of it off, there were bits and dabs of the green and brown paint left around the periphery of my face and on the side of my nose.

I kept walking after washing my face, and I eventually came upon to the house. It was huge, a kind of alpine lodge set in midst of these woods, far from any other houses or city. Whoever had originally built it must have been looking for isolation. It had a well paved road leading to the front of the house, circling the back as well.

"I decided to go to the front door, as no one would expect that. I automatically reached out to knock on the door, before catching myself. I quietly tried the front door, finding it wasn't locked. So I opened the door and entered the three story house. I looked around, stifling my impulse to hide behind a huge coatrack in the entry. No one seemed to be downstairs, but I could hear the murmur of voices and quiet laughter coming from upstairs. So I went up the huge winding staircase to see what was on the second floor."

I eventually found the room, following the sound of voices. I took a deep breath, went to the door, and opened it.

I immediately caught the room's attention. A vampire who sat at the end of a long table, playing host, began to rise. Simultaneously a huge vampire sped to my side. I remembered my training, 'watch your doors', and decided the hallway was my vulnerable spot. So I entered the room completely and shut the door behind me.

The room went completely silent after I shut the door. Then I saw what, or rather who was on the table. It was a girl in a blue dress, strapped to the table, with bloody bite marks from where I must have had interrupted their "dinner".

I pulled out my weapon and started on whoever came close to me. I didn't care how many vampires there were, and I didn't count. When I fought, I existed in the moment. I just killed whoever stood between me and the people I had come to rescue. The next thing I remember, I was standing at the girl's head, cutting through her leather restraints.

'Kill me,' she whispered.

'No, I killed them. You're supposed to live,' I replied. I pulled her upright, and cut down a curtain to cover her up with. She hugged her knees and rubbed her wrists as I looked around."

There were human bodies thoughout the room, some lying on the floor, others leaned against the walls. All had blood running from incisions on their throats, wrists, and other places on their bodies. I took a silver goblet from the table and went from body to body, holding it in front of their mouths to see if anyone was still breathing. Most were already dead, so I covered their bodies with pieces from the drapes I cut down as I circled the room. Those few whose breath still showed on the silver goblet, however faint, I moved to more comfortable positions, leaving their faces exposed.

As I was moving through the bodies, there was a loud noise. The Freedom Fighters had arrived. They came banging through the door and took in the scene. They looked surprised, of course, to see me moving among the vampire and human bodies. 'Thanks for joining me,' I said sweetly. 'Maybe you can help me with the survivors?'

They started checking the colony members whose faces I had left uncovered; some had already died in the few minutes that had passed. They tallied the dead, both vampire and human, and began removing the identity papers from the vampire bodies. 'It appears the C.O. didn't give us all the information about you,' began the leader.

I just shrugged, and went back to the girl lying on the table. She was so weakened by blood loss she was laying down again. I told them I was taking her with us.

'No, we can't help her. We're going to move the other survivors,' I was told.

'That's bullshit and you know it,' I snapped at the leader. 'We're here to rescue these people, and she's going with me". I picked the girl up, and carried her to the garage. There was a midnight blue Masarati Gran Cabrio convertible next to the other sedans and light trucks. I put her in the passenger seat, and took off. Her pulse was falling, and her eyes were closed. I zoomed back to the camp.

When I got to the camp, I pulled the car up in front the freedom fighters tent. I knew they brought a doctor and medical supplies, including blood, with them. These were brought both to help the injured people they were rescuing and for themselves in case they were wounded. I jumped out of the car and carried the girl into the tent."

The doctor turned to see me come in. 'I need blood for her,' I said. 'I don't know her type, so just give me O negative.'

The doctor looked at the girl in my arms, and said that most of the blood supply was tagged for the fighters. They had each brought a few pints of their own blood type.

I replied that the fighters were all just fine, they had sustained no injuries as they hadn't done any fighting. I repeated that I needed some of the universal blood type, O negative.

He answered that there was no guarantee it would help her, and as blood was in such short supply, he couldn't give it to me.

I pulled my gun and put it against one of the bags of O negative blood. 'This goes blood either goes into her, or it goes onto the wall', I replied. 'She may have only a 40% chance of survival with this since we can't type her, but she has a 0% chance without it.' My argument convinced someone though, as a woman walked up with tubing, gloves, and gauze. She motioned me to set the girl on a cot, cleaned her arm, and started an I.V. line.

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	26. Chapter 26 - First Op (cont)

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 26, the story of the Medal and my first op (continued)

(Bella's POV)

This chapter continues Bella's recounting of her first rescue mission with the freedom fighters.

"A nurse quickly started the bag of blood without looking up to meet the doctor's glare. She must have known he was a jerk. With my limited exposure to boys and men, having grown up in an all-female population typical to the living death camp, I didn't know that 'jerkiness' was often a part of the typical male constitution.

'She may only have 40% chance of survival if her blood type doesn't match, but she has 0% without it,' I said again, trying to convince myself, while watching the shallow breathing of the unconscious girl. 'We will just have to wait to see if she survives.'

I moved the injured girl to one of the tents, laid her on a cot, and then sat down on the floor next to the cot to keep watch. I was exhausted, but I stayed awake. She survived the night, and at about 3:00 A.M., the nurse brought her more blood. 'One of the freedom fighters gave you part of his allocation of both blood and food, but I'm not supposed to tell you that,' she whispered.

Around 8:00 A.M., the girl finally woke up. The whole colony knew when she woke up, since she started screaming the moment she opened her eyes. I had some food, so I would take a bite, and then put the next bite up to her mouth. She would eat a little, then scream some more. She would say, 'No,no, no' or 'Why?' repeatedly, and then scream. And man, did she have a set of lungs. I was proud of her. She could have filled in for many of the lackluster heroines in the horror movies I so perversely loved to watch when I got the chance. Everyone kept asking, 'Why watch Bela Lugosi's Dracula, when you live in a world populated by the real thing?' But I loved my horror movies, and I still watch them every chance I get.

But as for my screaming friend, I just encouraged her. 'Get it out,' I told her. 'Just get it out; what you went through was hell.' Eventually I got her name out of her, it was Marsha. Such a nice name for such an awful world.

The doctor stuck his nose in the tent around 9:30 in the morning; he brought something to keep her quiet. 'Are we bothering you?' I asked.

He left without saying a word, leaving the sedatives and a bottle of water on the tent floor.

Then my c.o. arrived. I could see him outside, and watched the freedom fighters run to him like children, so eager to enumerate my screw-ups. He listened to them for a while, eventually motioning to them to go into a tent so he could sit down. I knew he was in a great deal of pain. He believed he had liver cancer, but refused to take pain pills or any other kind of medication, preferring to save the limited medical supplies for the young. For those who were going to survive this world, and live to see the return of human law, as he put it.

Eventually, he came over to our tent, stuck his head in, and motioned for me to come outside. I told Marsha I would be right outside, and I would leave the flap open so she could see me. I got a few screams in response, so I gave her thumbs up, telling her once again to get it all out of her system. "

We did a debriefing outside the tent. The freedom fighters had returned with twenty living colonists that they found locked up in the basement. There had been thirty-five people taken captive. Of the original thirty-five, ten had died last night in that dinner party. Four others had been taken upstairs in the days immediately after the hunter's raid on the colony, and were never seen again.

The other twenty had a terrifying tale to tell. They had been kept in the basement with the tiger. There were two cages in the lodge basement. The first cage covered half the floor, and the second cage sat inside the larger one in a back corner. The lock had been removed from the larger cage, so the door swung open at the touch of a hand. The smaller cage had a latch that could be used to close the door from the inside. It was a 5 x 7 holding cell. The tiger was allowed to roam loose in the open, uncaged part of the room at the foot of the stairs.

So the thirty-five people were not safe in the large cage, but they couldn't all fit in the 5x7 holding cell. When they all tried to cram into the holding cell at once, it was clear that the people closest to the outer bars could be reached by the tiger. They tried tying the door shut to the main cage with a shirt, and lodging a boot under it for further security, but they knew that this would not hold if the tiger actually made a real attempt to get in. And if they ran for the security of the interior holding cell, he would be able to maul at least a few between the bars.

But the tiger never tried to enter their cage. He just paced the length of the wall, and spent his time bounding up and down the stairs, trying to get out. The vampire hunter was clearly trying to turn him in to a man-eater, as he encouraged the tiger to enter the cell holding the thirty-five people, and dragged a few humans out by the hair and dangled them in front of the tiger.

However, it appeared that the tiger was not a willing man-eater. The hunter didn't feed him for a few days, to see if he would attack a human, but he hadn't. So the hunter pulled a man out, snapped his neck, dismembered him, and then fed the legs to the tiger. The tiger reluctantly tore into the dismembered legs, but did not try to hunt a live human.

I shuddered after hearing this story, no wonder Marsha was still screaming. She had endured the experience in the basement, and then had been sent up to be served for dinner. She had watched the other colonists, people she had known all her life, being killed before she was strapped to the table. The multiple bite wounds on her body were a grim reminder of just how close she had come to dying in that room as well.

My c.o. then asked for my report on the mission. I told him everything, mostly honestly, including how I had ditched the rest of the group. I told him that I was worried that my smell as a human teenage girl would attract attention, so I decided to use it to draw the hunters from the house and away from the freedom fighters. That way the men would have an opportunity to sneak up behind the vampires and take them by surprise. The c.o. clearly wasn't buying that part of my story, but he couldn't figure out what he was missing. My c.o. didn't know, nor did I feel he needed to know, how attractive my scent was so attractive to these bloodthirsty immortals. If he did know, he might not want to send me on any future missions.

He was very interested to hear about my experience in the woods with the tiger. 'So it just looked at you, then took off in a different direction?' he asked.

'Correct,' I replied. 'And since he wasn't going in the direction of the freedom fighters, I saw no reason to interfere. He hadn't hurt me, after all. Maybe he heard a deer or something.' Then I continued my report about entering the house, encountering the dinner party, and my return back to camp with Marsha.

When I got to the part about the doctor, the c.o. made a quick call. He asked someone over the phone if they could were available, as a girl had been traumatized. He apparently got an affirmative response, because he said thank you, and gave a coded response for our location.

A few hours later, a car arrived, and the c.o. went out to meet it. When he returned, he had a tall, willowy woman with him, whom he introduced her as a doctor. Too pale, too perfect. Had the c.o. just called in an f*ing vampire? Was he for real?

'No way. She's been through enough at your kind's hands,' I spat at her.

'Human doctors get tired, and they get frustrated with the lack of supplies. I do not need sleep, and I practiced in a time before modern medicine, so I am versed in the old ways as well as the modern. I will take on her care,' the vampress said quietly in her way too smooth voice.

I had my gun cocked and pointed at her. It contained bullets laced with Agent Orange. These bullets wouldn't kill a vampire, but they would burn them and cause a great deal of pain.

'I'm only letting you into this tent because my c.o. brought you here. If you come in here, you will do as I say regarding this patient until Marsha is strong enough to manage her own care. You understand?' I snapped at the vampress.

'Yes, young one,' she replied cooly.

The new doctor came in to the tent and walked up to the bed. Marsha, as I expected, immediately pulled away from her. I sat down on the other side of the bed by Marsha and put my arm around her shoulders. 'I won't let her do anything you don't want,' I said. 'That male doctor out there is looking after other patients, and my commanding officer brought this one here to treat you.'

Marsha didn't look totally convinced, who could blame her, but she slowly nodded her agreement, and I gestured for the vampress to approach.

The vampire doctor looked her over, and then looked at me. 'I will need to move her to my clinic, to complete her care. She has been through much, and she needs time to heal.'

I agreed that she needed time to heal and told Marsha we were taking her someplace else for a while. Marsha nodded again, but started to tense up at the thought of leaving.

Then that dumb-assed vampress leaned over Marsha, staring straight into eyes, and breathed on her. Marsha went quiet and fell back, limp. That vampire doctor had dazzled Marsh, right in front of me! So I shot the vampress in the butt.

The vampire doctor yelped in pain, and my c.o. came running into the tent. 'What the hell?' he yelled.

'Your good doctor just dazzled my friend here. She seems to have missed the part about any decisions on her care being made by me,' I replied.

'This doctor is a vetted ally; she left behind everything she owned in order to help us. She was even being tracked by the Volturi tracker Demetri because it was suspected she was using her skills to help humans in hiding,' he began.

But I wasn't buying it. 'Your Saint Vampire just dazzled this girl. She may be a volunteer, but she needs to understand that the resistance movement is about humans making their own decisions. Not some stupid vampire just doing as they see fit, for their own convenience. Does she understand that? Can she even comprehend that concept?' I yelled.

The vampress surprised me by nodding, while rubbing her butt, her face twisted in pain. She lifted her skirt and began the process of picking out the bullet with her fingernail, hissing and grimacing at the pain. Watching her was just plain gross, but I was proud of those bullets; they had been one of my more successful chemistry experiments. Vampires were so used to the concept that humans couldn't hurt them. Well, that just wasn't true anymore.

We bundled Marsha into a car, and the vampire doctor insisted on driving, as vampires always do. She continued to hiss and snarl at the pain in her hindquarters from my bullet, until I told her quietly that if she couldn't stifle the growls I would shoot her on the other side, as she was upsetting Marsha.

Eventually we reached her clinic in a small town that the vampires had not chosen to settle in after the Event. Her clinic was in a building which looked shabby on the outside but was pristinely clean on the inside. It had a calming vibe about it and was filled with soft lighting and plants. It was powered using generators, so that the location wouldn't show on a power grid to vampires looking for human colonists who might have moved into abandoned buildings. Marsha stayed there for quite a while, and ended up working with incoming patients instead of leaving and going to a colony once she regained her strength.

The vampire doctor and I eventually became friends, as unlikely as that might have seemed. The human doctor's reluctance to treat wounds such as Marsha's multiple bite wounds seemed mild compared to the general reluctance to treat the brothel girls I eventually made it my mission to rescue. Those girls were bleeding from internal injuries to their vaginas, rectums, and abdomen, and often also had broken kneecaps, shoulder blades, and even pelvises from the rough handling. Many would die no matter how many surgeries they went through. This woman vampire was the only one who would treat them.

Eventually it became a routine. Every time I went on a mission, I stocked up on medical supplies such as surgical supplies, sheets and medications, as well as gasoline for the generators. There were still plenty of warehouses stocked with medical supplies that weren't being used. Gasoline was harder to come by, but I managed.

When I arrived at the clinic with the girls, I also brought the supplies to treat them with. Many girls died as they were being transported from the brothel to the clinic. I was too late for them. I dug those who died graves en route if we had enough time, and if we didn't, we buried them in a quiet little area set aside for the purpose by the clinic. If the vampress couldn't heal a dying girl, she would hold her, rocking her as she died. 

But all that was in the future. That night, back at the colony, the freedom fighters came up with a new toast in my honor: To Girls who Shoot Vampires in the Butt. Eventually a medal was struck for me with the letters GSVB on it and a promise to come up with a Latin phrase for those letters that would sound dignified and inspirational. The medal was delivered to me by an ally just before I got to Chicago back in July."

I looked up, and looked around the room. Leah was closest, and she nodded slowly. Emmett didn't laugh for once, and Carlisle was deep in thought.

Eventually, Rodrigo said that another one of the boys would be arriving at the house soon. He had flown one of the Home coven's Cessnas into the Forks airport, and they would be leaving to take Leah home. We said our good-byes, and after a few additional stare-downs and quiet snarls were exchanged between Jasper's group and Rodrigo's, they left.

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	27. Chapter 27 - A Visit from the volturi

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 27 – a visit from the Volturi

Day 7068 (November 7, 2039)

Eleazar and his coven left a few days after Leah and Rodrigo's visit. It was a crisp morning, the day after they left. Jasper and I were playing that old game Milton Bradley game, Battleship. I liked playing different wars on it, so I was debating whether my fleet would be Cleopatra's Nile barges, or a French fleet lead by Jules Verne's Captain Nemo's submarine the Nautilus. Whatever war we chose, I always liked to add verbal sound effects, such as "ping, ping" for the submarines, or roars for the crocodiles. It always cracked up Emmett and Jasper and made Carlisle smile. I liked making Carlisle smile.

Emmett loved his x-box and other electronic games, and I liked playing those, but I still favored simple board games the best. It seemed to me they allowed for the most creativity and ingenuity. Anyone could play, and more people wear interested in the board games at the Cullen house.

I sensed a small group of vampires were approaching the house, in a military formation. They had avoided the town by circling to the east. I told Carlisle he was about to have visitors.

I dug around in my box by the fireplace and pulled out the velvet choker Crazy had sent. When Crazy and I visited my house after escaping the Human Containment Facility, I had found a photo of my grandmother wearing a choker with a cameo at my mother's house. When Crazy realized I was actually going to be staying with Carlisle, she had a cameo-style locket made for me modeled on this photo. It had an exquisite cameo rendering of the Cullen crest in black pearl on the front, and it opened to show "99-Sweetheart / Carlisle Cullen". So it worked as a collar, though it was very much a sophisticated piece of jewelry.

I choked at the thought of wearing a collar, but Crazy suggested wearing it if Carlisle ever had unexpected visitors, so as not got either get him in trouble or draw attention to myself. To date, I hadn't worn it yet. If for no other reason than Carlisle himself hadn't given it to me, and quite frankly, it was nicer than the necklaces his two daughters wore, which also had the Cullen crest on it.

I slipped the choker on while Jasper and Carlisle went to the door.

Six vampires entered the hallway with Carlisle, all wearing long gray or black cloaks. Marcus Volturi had arrived with his personal guard.

Carlisle welcomed Marcus in Vampiri, and invited him to his study. While they went upstairs, his guard remained downstairs and settled into various positions around the living room, watching me with bright red eyes.

_Maybe I get to kill a few Volturi guards_, I thought. I could always claim self-defense if they moved on me. Or even if they didn't. I was pondering the situation while lying in my usual spot in front of the fireplace. Jasper had brought a wing-backed chair next to me, and was sitting directly over me, stroking my hair. It didn't escape me that he had taken the most advantageous position if he needed to protect me from the guards. He had a clear spot behind us to back me into a corner if one of them made a move.

The silence was getting on my nerves. I know vampires can stand still for long periods of time, but I was ready for action. Just then, Carlisle and Marcus came downstairs.

Marcus looked at me and said to Carlisle "So this is the source of the delightful smell. She looks so comfortable, sitting by the fire. May I sit with her?"

Carlisle bowed his head and said "Yes," while adding quietly, "I do not feed from her."

Marcus nodded and said, "Of course not, and congratulations on finding her at last." Carlisle gave him an odd look and then a slight nod. Marcus took a long look between Carlisle, Jasper and I, raised an eyebrow, and smiled knowingly. I decided to ask the mind-reader about that later. Right now the mind-reader was working on threat assessments from Marcus' guard, and relaying messages for me both to and from the human council.

Marcus came to the fireplace and pulled off his cloak. He was wearing a hunter-green shirt with brown slacks, in a style more suited to the 19th century. He leaned over me, his red eyes staring at me, and he put one of his long, bony fingers under my chin. Jasper and Carlisle both tensed, but he was only looking at my cameo.

"It's a beautiful piece," Marcus said. "It appears to be the work of one of Italy's master craftsman, yet he will only do necklace chains for me. How did you get him to do this cameo?" he asked Carlisle.

Carlisle had never seen the cameo, but he kept his composure. "It was a gift," he replied. "I'm not familiar with the details."

"Well it looks lovely on her," Marcus replied, as he settled next to me on one of the long pillows in front of the fire. Carlisle brought over another wing-backed chair and seated himself across from Jasper. "Seeing this house makes me realize that my brothers have gone too far," sighed Marcus. "It is quite pleasant to have a relaxed human in front of a fire. I haven't had such a friend in many years. Caius always took it as a sign of weakness." He stroked m y hair. "I guess I don't have to ask where or how you found her. I'm sure wherever she was, once you sensed her presence you did what you had to do to bring her here. Still quite young though. I don't suppose she speaks Italian, does she?"

Marcus switched to Italian and addressed me directly: "Can you understand me, little one?" he asked in Italian.

I looked at Carlisle, who nodded. "Yes," I replied in Italian.

Marcus looked up at Carlisle in amazement then back down at me thoughtfully. He paused for a moment, and I watched the reflection of the fire in his red eyes. Sitting this close to him I could see the almost transparent quality of his skin. He was tall, with long legs and long arms, though he was graceful and fluid in his movements.

"Are you happy here with Carlisle?" he finally asked, still speaking Italian.

"Yes, very happy," I answered in Italian.

I was waiting for a ruling from the Human Council. Was I to execute Marcus? Or talk to him about the resistance, since Aro and Caius generally did not involve him?

The mind-reader warned me that the scene was looking familiar to Carlisle. Marcus frequently had charmed human woman into being his willing blood donors over the centuries. He liked returning to his quarters and finding an elegantly attired human woman waiting for him. He would sit with her by the fire, move her hair away from her shoulders, and feed gently from her neck. He had the control to only take a little blood at a time, so the women often stayed with him for years as companions. The position he was sitting in next to me reminded Carlisle of the way he sat next to his human donors prior to the Event.

The four of us sat and stared at the flames for a while, while his guard stood stock-still at attention. The deaths of Felix and Demetri, followed a few days ago by Renata and Chelsea, had obviously rattled his guard. But they need to stop thinking about how much they want to drain me, and focus on possible threats to themselves and their master.

The answer finally came back from the Human Council. I was to do nothing unless attacked.

Eventually Marcus rose and left. He gave me a kiss on the top of my head and went out the door, after thanking Carlisle for his hospitality.

Carlisle and Jasper didn't relax for over an hour.

"I guess you know who that was," Carlisle said to me at last. "He was looking for Eleazar, and he had missed him by a few hours. So now they are going to Alaska."

Then Carlisle knelt in front of me and reached for my locket.

"It is quite lovely," he commented, examining it. I moved to take it off so I could hand it to him, but he caught my hand.

"I like it on you. Do you like wearing it?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, I like wearing it," I answered. "It was sent by a friend, who took the crest from one of your business cards. There was a photo at my house of my grandmother wearing a cameo on a choker. My friend had this made using that photo as a model. She said you would know better than to try to make me wear a collar, but that I should keep this handy. If anyone other than family came to the house while you were out, or even while you were home, to put it on to keep you out of trouble.

I wasn't sure you would like it, since you didn't give it to me. I felt that I would wearing your family crest without your permission," I added hesitantly.

"I like it very much. May I ask who made it, even Marcus was taken with the craftsmanship?" said Carlisle, still eying the design closely.

"My friend said she called in a favor. The jeweler usually only makes chains, as they take less time. He carved this cameo this as a special favor to her. It took him nearly three days to finish it."

"Please wear it as much as you like. You are a member of this family now," said Carlisle, looking at Jasper. Jasper smiled and nodded.

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	28. Chapter 28 - Crazy!

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 28 – the return of Peter and Charlotte, and the arrival of Crazy

November 9, 2039

A few days after Marcus Volturi's unexpected visit, Jasper announced that Peter and Charlotte were returning for a week. I was glad. I liked the quiet Texan and his bubbly mate.

The day they arrived, Jasper didn't come to the house. My feelings were hurt, as I felt left out. I had been looking forward to seeing Charlotte. I had to keep reminding myself that these were not my friends, after all. I was living in Carlisle's world. I was not living in the freedom of the wild, where I could count vampire allies as my friends openly. In Forks, my contacts were filtered through the Cullens, and I was beginning to chafe a bit.

The next day, however, when I got up, Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte were already downstairs. Charlotte had a big smile on her face when she saw me and was holding a big box for me to open.

I took the box and opened it. Inside was a white cowboy hat and matching fringed leather jacket and chaps. I loved them. Of course, I would need to wear them over pants. Charlotte had brought some jeans in a separate brown paper bag. Carlisle and Jasper spoke quietly for a minute, and then Carlisle said it was ok to try on my gift. Carlisle had selected the clothes I wore since the day I arrived, and so I had worn dresses with tights every day. The day we met in Chicago, I had been wearing my usual uniform of jeans with a Led Zeppelin album art t-shirt. That outfit didn't make it from Chicago to Forks. The jeans probably wouldn't have fit anyway, with the weight I had gained since July.

I went upstairs and put the new clothes on. I already knew how to put on the chaps, since I had been at Isaiah's. I came prancing back downstairs, delighted to be wearing jeans again.

Carlisle gave an indulgent smile, but Jasper's was broader and genuine. He clearly liked me seeing me dressed this way. I had a feeling that Charlotte had picked up the outfit for me on Jasper's behalf.

Jasper had told Peter and Charlotte the story of my first op, so they had questions. They were experienced fighters, having fought with Jasper in the Southern Wars. Actually, Jasper had created both of them to fight in the Southern Wars. They were among the very few who had survived, as Jasper had let them escape.

All of their questions came from a military perspective. They were especially curious about how many vampires I had killed at the hunter's lodge.

I replied that I never counted the number of vampires I killed on a mission, which was true. When I fought, I went into the moment and killed whoever stood between me and the humans I was trying to rescue. My c.o. made sure that someone collected the deceased vampires' papers, so he had a body count from each mission. I quite frankly didn't care. My focus during a mission was not on revenge, but on the liberation of humans.

Peter and Jasper also wanted to know how I was doing the killing when I fought. I simply answered that the resistance, having had twenty years to study vampires, had come up with weapons suited to the task. When they saw I wasn't giving them details, they let it drop for the moment, and we started talking about the Home coven boys Jasper had squared off against a few weeks ago.

Jasper commented that the Home coven boys moved well together. He had only trained newborns in the Southern Wars, whereas the boys were mature vampires who had trained together for years. I told him that while I had heard of the Home boys for years, I had only actually met one of them prior to Leah's visit. Rodrigo and the boys he had brought had been strangers to me.

I snuggled in to Charlotte's side while Jasper told Peter how coordinated their moves were, and the feelings he got during their mock standoffs. The glances Jasper gave me as he talked made me think that some of those feelings Jasper sensed from Rodrigo had probably been possessive of me.

I liked being around Charlotte. It was nice to have female company, since Alice and Rosalie wouldn't talk to me in human, and Esme acted motherly. I needed someone I could just be myself with. I knew that wouldn't work completely with Charlotte, but she was as close to a friend as anyone since Leah left. I was really starting to miss Crazy.

Later in the day Emmett came over, and the four began to discuss their plans for Saturday night. They were going clubbing in Seattle. It was just another reminder to me that I was human, and couldn't participate.

Then the cousins forwarded a message came from Crazy. "I have a surprise for you. Don't ask the mind-reader to spill the details. Just be ready to meet me outside on Saturday."

I told her Jasper and the others would be leaving Saturday to go out, she should time her arrival for early evening after they left. I didn't see any need to have someone as combustible as Crazy around someone like Jasper.

Saturday night rolled around, and I got a message from Crazy, telling me to find a way to get outside without Carlisle. So I gestured to Carlisle I was going out on the patio, just for a minute, while he was talking on the phone and looking up something on his computer. He nodded, and I stepped out.

Crazy was standing outside by the fence. She stuck a note on the fence that read "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," grabbed me, and jumped over the fence. We hadn't gotten to the front yard, when Carlisle came around the fence. One of the allies, timing everything to the minute, pulled up. He got out of his delivery truck and asked Carlisle to sign for a package. He got between the two of us and Carlisle, allowing us a few precious seconds to get to her car.

Crazy took off in a flash, and we hit the airport quickly. The plane was on the tarmac, motor running. The door opened and she leapt through it, carrying me. She said she could see Carlisle arriving on the ground as we were taking off.

"So," I asked. "What's the surprise?"

"I'm taking you out for your birthday! I've got outfits and everything ready. We're going clubbing in Seattle!" she replied excitedly.

I giggled, thinking how the Cullen kids were in Seattle too, with Peter and Charlotte. "You know who else is in Seattle?" I asked.

"Let's see - the residents of Seattle? The Easter Bunny?" Crazy replied.

"No – Jasper, Emmett, Edward, and Peter are all there, with their true loves," I answered.

"Oops – maybe should we run across them?" she said excitedly.

"I don't know what they'd think. No, let's make that I know exactly what they'd think…" I said, laughing.

"Then let's do it!" sang Crazy. "They'll never recognize you in this outfit. This will make it even more fun!" She pulled out some ridiculous outfit I was supposed to wear and carefully zipped me into it. The she started working on the hair and makeup. She was doing my make-up in the geisha fashion that was the rage in some places. The opaque white makeup hid my human complexion. She topped it with a hat with a veil, and dark glasses. Great, I'm a mix between a geisha and a 1940's style veiled lady. And I'm wearing my six inch Manolo Blahnik heels from our ill-fated Boston trip.

"I won't be able to see, much less walk, in this outfit," I told her.

"You'll have to try, baby. I need you to do that 'floating down the catwalk' strut that we used to practice in the hotel room. You may not be able to move at vampire speed, but with that walk, slow counts. You'll be able to pass in a crowded room," Crazy responded confidently.

When we reached Seattle, Crazy had a limousine waiting for us on the tarmac. She had champagne on ice waiting inside of the car, but I wasn't going to drink any until after I did my catwalk strut in the clubs. Bubbly and high heels would not be a good mix for me tonight.

Crazy had a list of clubs that she wanted to hit before the night was over. We stopped at Club Noir first. She walked in next to me, and I did my best strut, eyes fixed straight ahead, never looking down or to the sides. We got part way across the room, and she signaled me to pause. I stopped, never letting my eyes waiver from the fixed point I had chosen on the other side of the room.

Suddenly she zoomed to my other side, where she was quickly rammed by a large body.

"Oh, excuse me," came Emmett's voice.

"Watch where you're going, oaf. You almost knocked me over! What are you, some klutzy newborn?" Crazy started in. I waited for her signal to move, and then we made it across the club and out the back door. Once outside, we got into the waiting car, and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Are you kidding? That was Emmett! He almost knocked me down!" I started.

Crazy was laughing hysterically. "Yep, and the others were sitting at a table in the corner. The blond, Whitlock, couldn't take his eyes off of us. He was sitting with his back to the corner, his arm around some sickly looking chick with black spiky hair. Her makeup couldn't hide the circles under her lackluster eyes. The two blonde ladies looked healthy enough, though. Too bad, 'cause those guys at the table were fine."

"That was them. What do we do?" I asked.

"Hit the next club, of course! I made that list of places with the intention of hitting every one of them tonight! It's been a long time since I smuggled someone underage into a club," she answered excitedly. So we went to Dark, followed by a visit to the Den, and did a repeat of our strut across the room at each place.

Dark was a high tech club, with lots of lights flashing from a computerized board, and wild techie music to dance to. The Den was a darker place, more of a biker bar. It featured go-go girls and a few topless dancers on a stage. There were couples going at it against the wall, too, not very discreetly. I saw more than I cared to. Guess that's why they called it the Den, for the den of iniquity.

I couldn't stop thinking about Emmett. Finally I broke down and texted him, using a throw away phone Crazy had bought for the evening. She had set up the phone so that "Mystery Lady" would appear on the caller i.d.

"u big oaf u almost knocked me down. Where did u learn to walk" I texted, and then we waited for a response.

Emmett replied almost immediately. "sorry about that, let me buy u a drink".

I replied "I'm safer somewhere else. U'd probably knock me down getting the drink. Besides, u would probably bring me blood, gross."

(Emmett's POV)

We'd gone to Seattle and settled into our usual table at Noir. It was good to get out, Rosalie was looking smoking hot. Jasper and Alice came with us, and they brought Peter and Charlotte. Can't say I thought much of this Peter guy, but Charlotte was built for love, all curves.

Jasper sat with his back in the corner, gunslinger style, as usual. It was my turn to get drinks. The waitress had come on to me a little too strong while leaning over the table to take our order, and Rosalie was acting up. It was easier for me to go get drinks than to deal with Rosalie. I was in too good a mood to deal with her pissed off attitude.

On the way back, I was looking at a real hottie sitting alone at the bar in a red dress slit up to here when I nearly stumbled into a vampress. When I turned to apologize, I realized I had been looking in the wrong direction. The diminutive blonde vampress I had almost run into was hot, really hot. Her lips were painted bright red, and she had a feral look in her eye. I would have bet money she was a succubus.

But the babe next to her was the real eye catcher. She was frozen mid-step. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, not looking to the right or left. She was thinner than I like them, but there was something about her, something that caught my eye. I made it back to the table without tripping, and got a glare from Rose. Jasper was watching the odd duo as well.

"Seen them before?" I ask him.

"No, but the brunette seems familiar," he replies.

He calls the owner over and asks him about the two ladies. The owner tells Jasper that he hadn't seen either of the girls before, but they were making quite the impression. The entire club had been watching their odd little march across the room.

We went back to talking after the two strangers left. About an hour later a text pops up.

"u big oaf u almost knocked me down. Where did u learn to walk"

I nod to Jasper, and show him the text. The night was about to get interesting.

I type in my reply, "sorry about that, let me buy u a drink".

Seconds later I get a puzzling response, "I'm safer somewhere else. U'd probably knock me down getting the drink. Besides, u would probably bring me blood, gross."

What the heck, what was so wrong with offering to buy her some blood? This place had first rate blood, they kept human pets in the back, and everything was fresh to order!

So I answer, "name ur pleasure", and wait for the response.

"if it's human blood, that's gross."

Hmmm, playing coy. Maybe she likes animal blood? "u want me to run u down a deer or something"

Reply "I don't do blood u jerk. Whazza matter, forget me so soon?"

Now that's confusing. Do I know her?

"have we met?"

"Grizzly bear newborn" comes the reply. 'Grizzly bear newborn' is one of Carlisle's little pet's stories. OK, this is a joke. I look around the table, and say "What's up, and who's in on this with her? Is Edward here?"

Jasper looks puzzled, so I show him the texts. He grabs his phone and calls Carlisle. They speak for a few seconds, and he snaps the phone shut, and says, "Carlisle says his little human vanished from the yard hours ago. He, Edward, and Esme have been looking for her ever since. There was a note left on the fence saying 'Girls just want to have fun'."

Was it possible? Was the slinky girl really Carlisle's little 99? But I didn't hear a heartbeat or smell her!

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Uh, oh! Emmett's confused! Show him some love and hit that review button, ok?


	29. Chapter 29 - Heading for Disneyland

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 29 – Heading for Disneyland

_(Continued from the last chapter, when Crazy takes Bella club hopping for her birthday)_

_(Emmett's POV)_

_Jasper looks puzzled, so I show him the texts. He grabs his phone and calls Carlisle. After they talk for a few seconds, he snaps the phone shut, and says, "Carlisle says his little human vanished from the yard hours ago. He, Edward, and Esme have been looking for her ever since. There was a note left on the fence saying 'Girls just want to have fun.'" _

_Is it possible? Was the slinky girl Carlisle's little 99? But I didn't hear a heartbeat, or smell her!_

(Bella's POV)

Crazy and I read the text messages together and wait for each response. After my "grizzly bear newborn" response, there is a pause in the incoming messages.

"I'll bet somebody's calling Carlisle. Do you think it's Jasper?" I ask Crazy. She nods and giggles.

"That Texas boy Jasper is so fine, he can find me any time," she says, licking her lips. I elbow her in the side, and she laughs again.

The next text comes in: "darling, wz that u?"

Crazy and I look at each other and giggle. Game on.

"u who, I'm me, who r u" I text back. Meanwhile, Crazy's rolling onto her back in the seat next to me, trying to smother her laughter.

"Come on, we've got to hit another club before they seriously start looking for us," she says.

We try to get into 1936, the club with the 1930's theme, but they require all white attire to enter. So we turn to go elsewhere. Suddenly Jasper appears at the door we had just left. He slips the bouncer some money, and they talk. He quickly turns around; will he go left or right? If right, he'll catch up to us. He goes left, and we race to the car and drive across town looking for the grunge bar. We catch Peter walking out of it, with Charlotte right behind him.

Dang, those Texas boys are good trackers.

We head for the penthouse apartment Crazy rented for the week, and I decide to crash and get some sleep. Crazy pulls my clothes off, I crawl into bed wearing just a t-shirt. I'd forgotten how much fun life could be. But I do miss Carlisle, and I find myself concerned about how worried he might be. I decide to send him a text, saying "I'm ok, going to sleep now". There is an instant reply, but I turn off the phone and go to sleep.

The next day, when I wake up, it takes me a minute to remember where I am. Instead of seeing my usual purple bedspread and bed curtains, I'm in a cream colored room, flooded with light. Right, I'm not in my room at the Cullens, I'm in a Seattle penthouse. Looking out the window at a breathtaking view of Lake Washington, I wonder where they Cullens are, if they are still in town.

Crazy has the car brought up to the side entrance of the hotel; I jump in and lie down in the back seat. We head for the airport. I sense Carlisle is at the airport, so I tell her not to turn in at the airport, but to go to the ferry. We cross the sound in the ferry and head for Port Angeles. Our pilot meets us at the Port Angeles airport, and we fly to Anaheim, California. A day at Disneyland!

I figure we have a few hours before they get here, so I load up on pancakes, and we hit our favorite rides and rollercoasters. It's one of those warm days that southern California still enjoys even in the month of November. We get wet riding in our little hollow log while touring Splash Mountain before we head over to the Haunted Mansion. Crazy and I make sure to check out all the gravestones in the front yard before going inside and getting into our Doom Buggy. I love the creepy, not-too scary parlor, and the séance scene. The vampires like to liven it up with their own cameo appearances, so no two trips are the same for us.

After that, we have to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean. We always give our host vampires time to sneak ahead of us and enter the battle scene. We can generally tell which characters they are, because they look real and not hokey like the Disney original mannequins. But it's always fun when one of the sailors leaps from the battle scene and lands in our boat, waving a sword.

We enter the Matterhorn in our bobsled and scream when we encounter the Abominable Snowman. We always get a photo made on one of the rides at Disneyland, and this time the vampires snap a photo of our reactions to the big yeti. In the photo, I'm clinging to Crazy, as she makes scary faces back at the camera. I send it to Carlisle and Emmett. I'm guessing Emmett will probably recognize the location. I can't imagine Carlisle at Disneyland.

Once I've been on so many roller coaster rides that I feel my head won't stop spinning, and I'm hoarse from screaming, we head to the hotel. It doesn't take long before we're settled into our room. I'm wearing the Thing 1 night shirt this time, in honor of my birthday, and Crazy's wearing the Thing 2 night shirt. We start cranking up the music and bouncing on the beds, singing along to our favorite songs.

Just as I'm about to drop off to sleep that night, security calls, and says Carlisle and Jasper are at the gates. They aren't happy about being told the park is reserved for a private party.

"Let them in, let them in," sings Crazy, so security directs them up. They are at the door of the hotel room in minutes. Crazy opens the door with the chain on and peeks out. "Who's this," she purrs.

Carlisle has had enough; he just pushes past her and comes in. He walks to the bed I'm in and leans over it, staring down at me. I stare back up at him. He finally crouches down so that he is eye level with me. Jasper comes to the foot of the bed and leans against the wall.

Carlisle shakes his head as if to control himself, and slowly says, "I was very worried." Crazy jumps on to the other side of my bed and stretches out next to me. She watches Jasper and Carlisle from under the blonde fringe of her bangs while I talk to Carlisle.

"Crazy took me out for my birthday," I said. "She just told me it was to be a surprise and showed up."

"It was your birthday?" asks Carlisle.

"Last September 13th," I reply. "But first, how about some introductions. Crazy, this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

"Charmed," says Crazy.

"Carlisle, this is Crazy," I say, turning to Crazy. The two lean across me and shake hands.

I start to introduce Jasper, but Carlisle decides to take the lead. "Miss Crazy, this is my son Jasper," Carlisle begins.

"A pleasure, ma'am," purrs Jasper, as he bends over her hand. I throw a pillow at him as Crazy giggles.

"What was that for, darlin'?" he asks, as he deflects the pillow effortlessly.

I just glare. He's done it again, bending over someone else's hand, never mine.

"So, how long were you ladies planning to be on this little road trip?" Jasper continues.

"It's not like I didn't send you a photograph to show you where we were," I snap. "Who recognized the location, Emmett?"

"Actually, it was Esme," replies Carlisle. "She's been exceptionally worried about you."

I start to feel guilty, then realize that's exactly what Carlisle intended. This is my birthday party, and I've been having fun. So I lean back on my pillow in an exaggerated motion, and close my eyes.

"She's really had a hectic day," says Crazy. "She could use some sleep."

She and Carlisle begin talking in voices too low for me to understand, and I drift off to sleep. I feel myself being lifted at some point, but I'm so comfortable I don't care. When I wake up again, Carlisle is carrying me into the house. I must have slept during the entire trip from the Disneyland Hotel, to the airport, and then the drive into Forks.

"Shh," says Carlisle, as he deposits me into my bed. "Go back to sleep, sweetheart."

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And I think the cousins will be showing up soon.


	30. Chapter 30 - Life wCrazy Emily's Visit

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 30 – Life with Crazy, and Emily's visit

When I wake up the next day, Crazy is lying right next to me, staring at me from under her fringe of blonde bangs. She laughs at my startled expression.

"Yep," she giggles, "I'm still here. And that boy Jasper is still fine. How many of them do you have around here, anyway? So far, I've seen an Edward, Peter, Jasper, Emmett, and of course, Dr. Cullen. Good morning, Dr. Cullen!"

Carlisle is sitting in the chair next to my bed, and he's not looking terribly happy. "Good morning, Miss Wenda," he replies.

Oh, Lord. They're being formal with one another. Only he hasn't been able to get her last name out of her. Well, I'm not going to tell him.

I sit up, slip out of bed, and head for the bathroom. Carlisle is right behind me. And so is Crazy.

Carlisle and I start our morning routine, with Crazy leaning against the wall. "So," she begins, addressing Carlisle, "do you really come in here with her? Kinky, baby!"

"Wenda," I reply, "his house, his rules."

I somehow manage to get through my morning routine and get dressed with both observers in the bathroom with me. When I'm done, I go downstairs. Peter and Charlotte are already here, they're sitting downstairs. They're looking at me curiously, and I know they have questions. I smile hello and go straight for the kitchen.

Esme is waiting in the kitchen. She gives me a quick hug, sniffing my hair. "I was so worried when you were gone, Sweetheart," she says.

I nod and sit down. They're not wearing me down with the guilt trips.

After greeting Peter, Jasper, and Edward for the third or fourth time, Crazy dashes into the kitchen. She does love her men.

"So, what's on today's agenda?" she bubbles.

"I don't know. I would like to go down by the river and then watch the flames in the fireplace," I reply.

"Kinky and action packed," she sings back.

"If our lives are too boring," Jasper drawls, "perhaps madam would like to go someplace else?"

"Is that an invitation, big boy?" returns Crazy. I glance over at Jasper. He's wearing low slung jeans and a tight black t-shirt that shows his abs.

When I first got here, he usually came to the house wearing tan Dockers and a polo shirt or sweater. During Peter's first visit, months ago, Jasper had shown up in jeans and a dark t-shirt. I remember that I had to keep my eyes trained to his chin to keep from blushing; he looked so good in jeans and a t-shirt. He had never switched back to the Dockers outfits, and I had to keep my eyes focused on his chin or anywhere else in the room when he was around.

But back to the moment, and Crazy's interaction with Jasper. Emmett elbows Jasper, who gives him a sharp look in return.

Emmett turns to me and asks, "Just one question. How come we couldn't smell or hear you in the club?"

"That's two questions, cutie, and the answer is simple. Baby's a walking gift," giggles Crazy.

"Sorry, Emmett. That was really kind of a parlor-trick use of an important Resistance strategy. I have dedicated my gifts to the Resistance, at the Human Council's request. I'm not at liberty to discuss them," I glare meaningfully at Crazy.

Rosalie strolls in from the patio, wearing her usual bored expression. She looks gorgeous as always, wearing a wraparound blue dress that showed off her figure perfectly.

"Hi, Bitch!" sings Crazy, peering around the doorway into the living room. Emmett gives a low growl, and I kick Crazy's ankle.

I choke down a stack of pancakes with syrup and some bacon, and then we head outside. Once we're on the patio, I try to convince Crazy to lay off of Jasper. "He has a mate, after all," I remind her.

"No, baby, he doesn't," she says. "That black haired freak is not his mate. Emmett is the only male in that house with a mate."

"There are three couples, Crazy!" I respond. "It's Jasper and Alice, Emmett and Rosalie, and Carlisle and Esme."

"I don't think so. Those ladies may be their wives, but they are not their mates," retorts Crazy. "It was that way with humans as well. Plenty of married people were not in love. After all, you don't have to be in love to get married, but you do have to know somebody.*** Only Rosalie and Emmett are true mates. Haven't you noticed they can't stay away from one another? Even when they are physically separated, they are still attuned to each other."

I had noticed that. When Emmett was playing a video game on one side of a room, and Rosalie was with Alice or Esme on the other side of the room, she was still facing him. Their eyes met often.

"Then why are the other two couples married?" I ask.

"They were trying to pass as humans before the Event, right?" asks Crazy.

I nod.

"The marriages allowed them to look more human. And it gets lonely waiting for one's mate, so often vampires will hook up with someone for a while. Of course, you don't have to hook up for a long period of time…"

I rolled my eyes. I had long ago accepted that my friend was a succubus. She loved her vampire men.

"Well, after the Event, a lot of female vampires stayed with male vampire friends for safety reasons. And since this was a coven that had lived together for decades, it was probably natural to stay together as much as they could," Crazy continued. "Trust me; Jasper and Carlisle are single boys."

I knew this could be a dangerous world for single vampresses. I had seen some in the brothels, but I thought that was a rare occurrence. I wonder if there were other dangers out there too. But really, I was a lot more concerned about humans than vampresses.

After a few days, Crazy leaves to go back east for business. She has to at least pretend to be a census worker, so she can't stay in any one location for an extended period of time. The second day she is gone happens to be Jasper's birthday.

The morning of Jasper's birthday, the UPS guy shows up with a package addressed to, "the Little One, c/o Dr. Carlisle Cullen". And, of course, no return address. My cousins have sent Jasper's birthday cake. They went to a lot of trouble, digging around in his history for an idea for the perfect cake decoration. They had been debating what to put on his cake. Should they put a confederate flag on the cake, or a horse? In the end, they decided to put on yellow roses, for the yellow rose of Texas.

But Jasper didn't come over on his birthday. With Crazy gone, he must have decided he got a day off. So the next morning, I sweetly told Esme I was going outside. I grabbed my cousins' cake from the fridge and took off for Jasper's house in Emmett's Jeep. I had noticed Emmett always left the keys in the ignition, so I knew I could grab it and go.

When I got to Jasper's house in Forks, I put the cake and balloons on his doorstep, rang the bell and jumped back in the car. Peter opened the door, wearing jeans and nothing else.

"This-is-for-Jasper's-birthday-yesterday-and-now-I'm- going," I stammered, trying to look anywhere but at Peter's gorgeous chest. I gunned the motor and took off down the street. Jasper flashed through the front door and was after me in seconds. I was heading straight home, so he could chase me all he wanted to as far as I was concerned.

Forks is a very small city, so I got to the highway quickly and made the turnoff to Carlisle's house within minutes. I pulled up to the house just as he caught up to the car.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he said angrily.

Emmett came out of the woods and ran up to the Jeep. "Hey, you took my ride!" He quickly glanced at me, making sure I was ok, then reached inside his Jeep and removed the keys from the ignition.

Crazy chose that moment to pull up behind us in the driveway. I guess she concluded her business early.

She purred at the sight of Jasper, who rolled his eyes. He grabbed my arm and started to drag me inside the house. That set Crazy off, so she leapt out of the car and charged Jasper, jumping on his back in order to tear off his head. It was her signature move, climbing onto a guy's back to tear off his head. Fortunately for Jasper, Peter chose that moment to show up. He pulled Crazy off of Jasper while I stomped inside the house with Emmett right behind me.

"I'm going to my room. Carlisle said I could go to my room when I needed privacy, and you would all respect that," I yelled, trying unsuccessfully to slam the door in everyone's face.

"Yeah, that room with no windows. That's kind of kinky. She sleeps just off Carlisle's study. This house is jam packed with windows, and her room doesn't have any?" observes Crazy.

Crazy was trying a diversionary tactic, but Jasper saw right through it. He watched me go upstairs through half closed eyes.

"By the way, did you like the cake?" I asked Jasper, leaning over the upstairs bannister. "My cousins went to lot of trouble to make you a cake and get it here on your birthday."

"Charlotte's bringing it over," Jasper said. I turned around and went through Carlisle's study to my room. I glared at the portrait of Carlisle with the thee Volturi as I passed it, and mumbled "this is all your fault" to the depiction of Aro it contained.

I heard some hissing between Jasper and Emmett. Actually what I heard was Emmett saying, "How did this happen? Well, Esme and I both heard the Jeep's engine start, but we each thought the other was driving. A few minutes later, we saw one another, and realized 99 was gone. That's when I ran into town, and she called Carlisle. Next thing I knew, I saw the Jeep heading back towards the house. I couldn't intercept it, so I ran back through the woods. When I got here, you were already here, growling at Crazy."

A few minutes later I heard a door open downstairs, and then I heard Crazy yell, "What the hell happened to it? Did someone jump on the box?"

There was a quiet answer, and Crazy yelled again. "Well that's just great. Alice threw it in the trash. What a dog in the manger she is! Don't you two have a human over there? Maybe she would have liked some. Maybe 99 would have liked some. What is wrong with you people?" I heard quiet voices interspersed with angry snorts and snarls from Crazy.

I decided I would try to take a nap, as I had a headache. So I pulled back the purple comforter on the bed and closed the bed curtains. But within seconds, Crazy was outside my door. "You ok, baby? Can I come in?"

I answered, "Yes", as there was no reason to try to keep her out. If she was outside pestering me to come in, she would be a much bigger distraction.

She came into the room, closing the door behind her. She climbed on my bed and began to stroke my head, rocking and muttering under her breath. Suddenly she asked "Who do you know rides a bike?"

I said, "What?"

Crazy said, "Someone human is riding a bike up to the house!"

She got off my bed and flashed downstairs. I heard a woman's voice asking to speak to Mrs. Cullen. Esme's voice came next. "I love your roses," was all I could make out from the voices downstairs. I couldn't stand the suspense of not knowing who was at the door. I opened the door to my room and crept out into the hallway, so I could see down the stairwell.

A very pregnant human woman was standing in the hallway talking to Esme. She was a little taller than Esme, she was tan and had long black hair. She must have heard me, because she turned to look at me. "How was the birthday party?" she asked.

"Um, just great?" I said, venturing downstairs.

"I'd heard so much about that cake, I had to come over. My name's Emily; I'm Sam Ulley's wife," she said, extending her hand. I took her hand to shake it, relishing the feeling of warmth. I had been around vampires for months; I hadn't realized how much I missed casual contact with another human.

I shook her hand and stared at her for a moment. She had three prominent scars down one side of her face, but that wasn't what drew my attention. She looked happy, and…pudgy? I had grown up around pregnant women. Their faces were drawn, and their arms and legs bony, as if the baby was draining every ounce of life from them.

"Baby, that's what a pregnant woman is supposed to look like," said Crazy quietly, obviously guessing what I was thinking. "How far along are you, honey?" she asked Emily.

Emily patted her stomach. "About 8 months. And baby wants a piece of that cake."

The cake, right. The one Alice put in the trash. I saw the battered box on the table next to Charlotte. Jasper looked down at the box and grimaced.

"Is that it?" asked Emily, looking at the box as well.

I nodded. "I think so." I picked the box up and looked inside.

Inside the box, there was a mess of yellow and brown. "This is what happens to cake when a vampress gets her hands on it," I observed dryly.

Emily looked inside too. "What was it supposed to be?"

"It was covered with yellow roses, for the yellow rose of Texas," I began. "It was for Jasper's birthday. There was a ring of roses around the outside, and then one big one in the center." I was starting to get angry at the destruction of my cousins' work.

Jasper said, "Darlin, that was sweet of you. How did you know it was my birthday?"

"Human birthdays are a matter of public record, and those records are written in human language. We can, and do, read the records of our past, you know," I snapped.

I was pissed that he had given himself "a day off" from human-sitting me on his birthday. He hadn't wanted to be around me on 'his' day, he wanted to spend it with his friends. Well that made sense, wasn't he only here because Carlisle made him take a turn doing human guard duty? I didn't mean anything to him as a person; I was only a responsibility he was fulfilling for his coven leader. And now I had let myself get hurt. My c.o. had been very specific with his orders. He hadn't liked that I was living with this coven, and he had said to be especially careful around Jasper, who as an empath could control emotions. I hated that my c.o. had been right.

And I hated that my cousins' had made this birthday cake and sent it here, so they were dragged into this too. They must have been gossiping with the Quileutes again. The Quileutes were somehow related via distant cousins to the Home coven. The cousins told me that when I arrived in Forks, Luther had contacted Billy Black and told them I was staying with Carlisle. I'm not sure exactly what he told them, though. I knew Rodrigo and some of the boys basically considered me "coven property", as I was one of the cousins. I knew Luther and Sam had worked out an arrangement so that the Quileutes had been watching over me, so they talked. Sometimes the female members of the two tribes talked as well. If Emily was Sam's wife, then she must have heard about the birthday cake.

Emily took the box. "Well, I don't know how to make a rose, but I think even I could make a cowboy hat out of the yellow icing," she said.

We both looked in the box, and Crazy leaned over to look in too. Crazy giggled, and said, "Yep, I think you could just scoop all that yellow stuff together, and then make another little oval on top, that would be a hat. That could work."

Emily and I walked in the kitchen. Esme and Crazy started to follow, but I turned at the doorway. "This is a Vampire-Free Zone," I said. "Humans made this cake, and humans will repair it.

Emily looked around the kitchen for a moment before moving to the center island. "It's really beautiful," she said. I looked around the kitchen again, as if seeing it for the first time. It was a nice kitchen, very airy and well lit. The center island was made of marble, and the appliances had been built into the counters so the overall impression of the kitchen was a smooth, undulating line of counter space. The pans were hung from a pegboard inside the pantry, so the counters and walls were entirely clear. There was a TV next to the built in stove, which I knew Esme sometimes used to watched cooking videos.

Emily looked though the drawers, where she found spatulas and a knife, and we set to work fixing the cake's icing.

"Do you have any toothpicks?" Emily asked? "Maybe we could put the pieces that were broken off back on with toothpicks."

I opened a few cupboard doors and found toothpicks next to the built in spice rack.

Crazy came to the kitchen doorway, and just as she was declaring she could enter, Carlisle pulled in to the garage. He started to come in the back door, but I told him the kitchen was a Vampire Free Zone. He raised an eyebrow but walked around to the front door.

Crazy was expounding on the reasons she should be able to enter the kitchen, when Carlisle tried to walk past her. Crazy grabbed his arm and swung him into the dining room wall with such force he left a dent. He was surprised and started to charge her, but stopped when he saw Emily and me watching. He gave Emily a quick glance, pausing at the scars on her face, and her obviously swollen stomach.

"Carlisle," I began, "this is Emily. Emily, this is Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

They both exchanged, "Pleased to meet you responses," and then paused.

Since I had declared the kitchen a Vampire Free Zone, there was no place on earth the vampires in the house wanted to be more than in that room. Crazy began to explain that as she was my guardian, she should get to come in to the kitchen. Carlisle clearly wasn't going to be kept out of a room in his own house, and started to come in, but Crazy stopped him.

"Your court order may be more legal than the forged papers I have for her, but I'm her guardian," she said.

"Guardian?" asked Jasper.

"I was appointed her guardian by the humans. I had to petition, and show I was worthy of the position."

Jasper and Carlisle exchanged a look.

Crazy got pissed and said, "While you keep her in a room with no windows, I was busy repairing her life in the real world."

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER.

How did Crazy get this guardianship? Can the cake be fixed? (Will Carlisle survive Crazy?)

***When I was in college, my resident master's wife made this remark.


	31. Chapter 31 - The Cake is Saved & Served

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 31 – the Cake is Saved and Served

_Emily and I are working in the kitchen, trying to repair the damage done to Jasper's birthday cake. Crazy is distracting Carlisle and Jasper from bothering us by telling them how she became my guardian in the human world._

"You are 99's guardian?" Jasper repeated incredulously.

"Yep. After she was freed," Crazy said, "I went to the humans and told them I wanted to be her guardian. In any world, she was too young to be on her own. I had papers made so that I was her 'owner' under vampire law, but I knew that she would eventually try to escape any situation involving ownership. So I wanted to become her family in the eyes of the humans in diaspora."

"How did you accomplish that?" asked Carlisle. He leaned against the kitchen doorway, placing himself between Crazy and me, making himself the vampire closest to the kitchen. I could see she wanted to out- maneuver him, but she decided to continue her story instead.

"I went to the authorities during the Human Diaspora," Crazy continued, "which is the church."

"I thought the Human Council was in charge," said Esme.

"The council runs the war and sets general guidelines for the colonies. The church is the glue that holds society together. They perform the rites such as wedding, baptisms and funerals, and they are the true guardians of the social structures. So I told the church elders I wanted to be 99's guardian, since her mother had been killed by a vampire. The elders were initially suspicious. Sometimes vampires will go to extreme lengths to gain a human's trust, because they want to play with their food. Their goal is to make the eventual meal more 'fun', by spicing it with a betrayal. I had to prove I was truly interested in her human life and welfare. So I set out the things we had done together since we met."

Now the conversation had my full attention. I wasn't sure how much she should reveal.

"Baby, can I tell them about this?" she asked gently, sensing my nervousness.

"Go ahead," I replied. "I'll chime in where necessary. It was a difficult time for me, so I would rather you describe the process."

"First," Crazy began, "I had helped free her from vampire custody. I killed the guard who had allowed her to escape only because he planned to sell her to a brothel." Jasper and Carlisle both growled at this statement. "We spent several weeks together after that, just discussing her life in the living death camp and letting her grieve over her mother. We went back to her mother's house, found her doll, and found the family plot in the town cemetery. We performed a private Memorial Service for her mother at her mother's house, and then we put a marker for her in the family plot."

Esme and Rosalie were sitting in the dining room at the table, listening. For once, Rosalie didn't look bored or disgusted. She looked interested, and it even appeared she might ask a question.

"I had her house put in my name for safe keeping," Crazy continued. "We found someone who would maintain her mother's garden while I was gone, since I travel so much. We worked out what she wanted to do with her freedom. She decided she wanted to live with free humans and join the human resistance."

"In the eyes of the elders, I had already been acting as a guardian, as I helped her with both her personal family history as well as human history. I had always made sure to point out human accomplishments wherever we went. We started at Disneyland" …at this point Jasper and Carlisle rolled their eyes.. "and I always looked up points of historic interest wherever we went. The church elders said that of all the vampire-human guardianship petitions they had received, the merit in mine was the clearest."

"I had always acted with the intent of making Baby independent and aware of her human past during the time we had spent together. The elders did make us spend six months apart before they would finalize the transaction. They wanted to give her time living with humans to ensure a vampire guardian was what she wanted. And after six months, of course it was still what she wanted."

"After that, it was history," Crazy continued, gaining momentum. "Baby found the colonies, and we discovered just how alike we were. I couldn't conform to society when I was growing up, and Baby found the colonies stifling. She set out on her own and joined the resistance. She was the top, best, absolute most-est fighter! She's.."

At this point I had to interject. "Well, you may be a little biased..."

"No, baby, you're the…"

"Like I said, you're biased. Right?" I urged, looking at Crazy in a meaningful way.

"Oh, right. She doesn't run the war, and she's been out of it for months now, here with you, in her windowless room…"Crazy began to backpedal.

Emily sensing the tension, chimed in, bringing our attention back to Jasper's birthday cake. "What do you think? Is this a cowboy hat, or what?"

I went back to the center island of the kitchen. The cake now had a brown/yellow top, but the center was mostly yellow, with a little flattened oval in the center. "Yep, I declare that a cowboy hat," I said. "Now, if we just had candles, we can eat this thing!"

My cousins had put candles in the bag with the balloons, so we put candles around the edge of the cake and brought it to the living room. We lit the candles with one of the long fireplace matches and then stood back.

Crazy started "Happy Birthday," and she and I sang to Jasper. Crazy did a little soft shoe dance routine as well, ending with a broad gesture towards the cake. I cut a few pieces of the cake for Emily and me. Crazy handed my piece to Jasper and then cut a larger one for me.

Surprisingly, Jasper put a bite of cake in his mouth. Crazy giggled.

"What's going to happen?" I asked. "You don't eat people food, you eat people."

"Darlin'," he answered, "no one has given me a birthday cake in almost two hundred years. I'm going to eat a piece."

The cake really was good, despite its appearance. It turned out that the damage done to the cake when Alice smashed it and put it in her trash can only meant that the icing had been cut down between the layers, making it even moister. I had never had fresh chocolate cake before. It was amazing.

Emily particularly enjoyed her piece. "I've heard about chocolate cake all my life, but I've never had it before. It's wonderful. What's in it besides the chocolate? Butter, flour, sugar, right?" she asked. "All the kinds of things I can't get in large quantities, when I can get them at all."

We sat for a moment, and then Emily leaned forward. "Baby wants another piece of cake," she declared.

"Allow me," said Jasper, surprising us all. He deftly cut a piece and managed to get it out onto a plate in remarkably good shape, considering the number of toothpicks that were holding the cake together.

Emily sat back and stroked her stomach. Esme moved closer to her.

"May I?" Esme asked, holding her hand out.

Emily nodded, and Esme cautiously touched Emily's stomach. When Emily smiled, Esme relaxed and stroked it.

"So, have you picked out a name yet?" Esme asked.

"I'm thinking of Sue," Emily said. "Sue Clearwater has been a mother to me, so I can't think of a better name for my daughter. I'm sure she's going to be a girl."

Rosalie continued to look interested but didn't say anything. I knew from the Resistance that one of Rosalie's male blood slaves had been used to impregnate Alice and Jasper's blood slave Ardella. Jasper and Alice had no interest in raising a child, so when the newborn's crying bothered Alice, they had sold the infant to one of the living death camps to be raised.

The baby had been taken from Ardella a three days after her birth while Ardella was sleeping, and Ardella had scarcely left her bedroom in Jasper's house since that time. About the only time she left her room was when Alice or Jasper ordered her to go to the spare bedroom where the exsanguination machine was kept. They carried her unconscious body back to her bedroom when the machine had finished removing her blood, and she woke back up in the room.

However, in the world of human captivity, Ardella would be considered one of the lucky women. All humans were required by the Rules to be bred at the age of 16. Ardella lived in the comforts of an individual house. She only had a single partner, and the sex acts had taken place in the relative privacy and comfort of a bedroom in a house. A doctor came to visit her during her pregnancy, and she didn't have any life threatening injuries, such as a broken pelvis or broken back. But looking at Emily, the difference was appalling.

Suddenly all of the vampires stiffened, and the males went into protective stances, just as I heard a noise outside. So I looked out the patio doors. A man appeared at the edge of the woods, just beyond the fence. He was looking at the house with a worried expression. There were three shadowy figures in the woods behind him, and the mind-reader told me that there were six more shape shifters covering the front and other two sides of the house.

"Sam," Emily sighed as she followed my glance outside. "I didn't exactly tell him where I was going when I set out on my bicycle ride this afternoon."

I nodded and said "It was great to meet you."

Esme packed up half the cake and brought a bag of oranges and a bouquet of roses from the front yard as well.

"Is there anything else you need, dear?" Esme asked.

"No", said Emily. "And thank you for your hospitality and inviting me into your lovely home."

Oh, no. She said "lovely home." Crazy and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. Emily's dark eyes were dancing with unspoken laughter; clearly she knew the story of her distant cousin's unsuccessful courtships as well.

"Good-bye, I hope to return soon," she said.

"Please come back soon, and let us know when the baby is born," I added.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. ALL REVIEWERS WILL GET A PREVIEW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER.


	32. Chapter 32 - Leah's Back - wCessna!

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Happy Halloween, everybody! As I am going to be on a short vacation, I am posting two chapters, early, including a scary one (chapter 33). Please show some love, and send me a review.

Chapter 32 – Leah's back – she swiped one of the Cessna's

(Bella's POV)

Crazy had to leave again to see her boss on the east coast. Carlisle had started to look as if he was going to need a drink if she didn't leave, but she left.

One rainy morning soon after she left, a quiet knock came at the door. Carlisle answered it, and there stood Leah. After a few days of Crazy, Leah probably looked pretty sane to him.

"Leah's here," Carlisle told me with a smile.

Leah bounced into the room, her smile and shining eyes telling me something was up. The fact that her hair and clothes were lightly covered with rain drops revealed that she had run from somewhere close by. She was wearing a light tan leather jacket over a plaid top, with jeans and soft tan boots, and had earbuds in both ears, connected to an i-phone in her breast pocket.

She handed me one of the ear buds, saying, "Listen to this." It was some kind of techno rock music, very high energy and fun. I didn't recognize the group. "Some of the guys on the human side of the family have been messing around, thinking of forming a band. This is one of their songs," she said.

"Sounds great," I replied.

Leah looked at me and said, "It was boring up there without you. I just had to come back. So…I took one of the Cessna's."

"Wow," I replied. "You know how to fly?"

"Well, I can fly, but I'm not so good at landing. The Boys are right behind me; they followed me in the other Cessna and were circling the airport while I landed."

"Cause you had to be alive for them to kill you!" I laughed. "I'm very familiar with the concept."

"Right," Leah said. "I've sat behind the wheel of the Cessna many times, but they always insist on doing the take-off and landing. Well, now I know how to do those things too."

Jasper and Emmett both had pilot's licenses. It was one of many things they had done to break up the tedium of their lives while they were trying to pass as human, prior to the Event. They both pulled chairs over to sit with us in front of the fire. They began to ask Leah about the plane, the trip, wind patterns, etc. She talked plane-talk with them for a while and then turned back to me.

"I heard Emily came by," Leah asked.

I nodded.

"How did she look?" Leah asked, confirming my suspicions that the two groups had been gossiping. "She's supposed to be almost due."

"She was glowing. I had never seen a woman looking happy while pregnant before," I replied.

"Yeah, well from what I've seen, while pregnant women can get all hormonal and complaining, they are generally pretty happy. Especially those carrying their first child. You know, Emily's from the Makah tribe. The tribe had managed to hide in the wild for ten years before the vampire trackers caught them. Sam and Billy got their call for help almost too late. Sam was torn about leaving Forks, but Billy decided Sam could take a few of the shifters out to help."

"Sam and the shifters he took with him ran hard for two days to get to the tribe's hiding place. Unfortunately by the time they got there, the vampire trackers had already found them. The vampires had killed most of the men, and anyone over the age of 40. They were in the process of moving the surviving human women and children back to their camp when Sam arrived. He and his fighters surprised and killed the hunters. It was a hard fight, and Sam lost two of his own men. Emily was one of the children they rescued from the vampires. Sam imprinted on her the second he saw her. He waited until she was 16 to tell her."

I hadn't heard this story. I had always thought that the Quileutes had stuck closely to the La Push area outside of Forks since the Event of July, 2020. They weren't a large enough group to be able to spare anyone for a long-distance mission. I knew they were hoping to eventually be able to liberate the town of Forks, but they knew if they attempted it on their own, a large group vampires would come and hunt them down. It was a risk the shifters couldn't take while they were sheltering the human members of their tribe.

Soon we heard the other coven members arrive. Rodrigo again, with his usual complement of boys. Rodrigo walked up to the front door this time and knocked. Carlisle answered the door and welcomed them. Carlisle brought Rodrigo into the foyer, and Leah got up to meet him. She bowed her head in submission before him, while Jasper and Emmett quietly positioned themselves between me and the boys still waiting on the front porch.

Leah talked to her brother in a quiet low voice, and after a while she got him calmed down. He didn't immediately force her to follow him out of the house.

She turned to smile at me, and soon the Boys who had been waiting on the front porch came in. Rodrigo and the Boys were all dressed similarly, wearing jeans with dark leather bomber jackets over their sweatshirts or sweaters. Jasper appeared to be eying the bomber jackets admiringly. He did like his bomber jackets. I had noticed he had a least four of his own.

"Dr. Cullen," said Rodrigo.

Carlisle went through the motions of introducing the Cullens to Rodrigo and the boys, and then everyone stood around awkwardly. I looked at the entertainment area of the living room in a meaningful way to Emmett, and he got the hint.

Emmett stood up and stretched. "Anyone up for the game?" he asked casually.

Two of the boys glanced at Rodrigo, who nodded his approval. They trooped over to the sofa in front of the TV, and Emmett turned on the game. They were quickly engrossed in the game on TV, trading sports trivia, engaged in the good natured one man upmanship that happens when a group of men first watch sports together.

Carlisle, Jasper, Leah and I sat with Rodrigo in one of the chair and sofa groupings closest to the fireplace. I sat between Leah and Carlisle on the sofa, while Jasper sat on the other end of the sofa, in the position closest to Rodrigo. Rodrigo shifted uncomfortably in the white, wing-backed chair.

Carlisle broke silence. "I understand your family is in the lumber business," he said.

Rodrigo nodded, and then seemed to realize he would need to speak. "Yes, lumber and we make some furniture as well. It's been our family business for decades," he said. He looked around the room, taking in the group watching the game with Emmett, and smiled. He turned to Carlisle and said, "You really have a lovely home, sir."

Leah and I were instantly trying unsuccessfully to cover our laughter at the phrase "lovely home". We were losing this battle, so we finally just laughed out loud.

Rodrigo smiled. "I understand that phrase takes on a different meaning when my little sister is present," he added.

"We've heard the story," Carlisle commented. "Maybe once or twice, in fact," he said, smiling at me. I couldn't help it; I started giggling again. Leah rolled her eyes and poked me in the ribs.

"Can I see your room?" she asked. I looked at Carlisle, and he nodded. We started up the stairs, and when the boys saw that we were leaving the room with Leah, they leapt up from the sofa and followed us. When we got to Carlisle's office, and he opened up the door, the B oys' eyes went black. While the Home coven boys had a lot of exposure to my cousins' scent, I guess my scent, rolling out from the windowless room into Carlisle's' office, must have surprised them

Rodrigo quickly moved to the end of the hall and opened a window. It seemed to be a drill with them; they seemed to know just what they had to do. They gathered around the open window, took deep breaths, and then turned back. Their eyes were bright red again, and they were all holding their breath. Carlisle and Jasper exchanged a quick look over their disciplined response but seemed to relax a bit, as the visitors were clearly used to being able to handle their response to the smell of human blood.

The boys came back from the end of the hall but lingered in the doorway of Carlisle's office. Only Leah followed me into my room. She nimbly jumped over my head, landing on my bed. That startled me, and she laughed, after gauging my reaction. Her responses to new situations always seemed fresh and original to me.

When Leah landed on my bed, she lay back on it, arms behind her head as she looked up at the canopy overhead. "This is fun. I've always wanted a canopy bed, ever since I first saw one," she said. She got up, poked around at the knickknacks on my dresser, and the chair Carlisle and Jasper sit in while I slept. Then we went back into Carlisle's study, where the visitors began to examine the paintings and books, asking Carlisle questions.

We eventually went back downstairs, and the boys rejoined Emmett in watching the game, while Jasper, Carlisle, Leah and I resumed our positions on the sofa. After chatting for another hour or two, Rodrigo got a call on his cell phone. He listened quietly for a moment before replying in the affirmative. He stood up, announced that the two planes had been fueled and checked, and were ready for the flight back home. Leah started to protest, and he cut her off with a glare.

"Perhaps next time, we can plan a visit, so as not to inconvenience the Cullens," he told her.

Esme had to jump in at that. "Oh, you're really no trouble. We look forward to seeing you again soon."

Rodrigo nodded to Esme but still gave Leah a stern look. "Let's go, little sister," he ordered. She followed him to the door meekly, but still managed to sneak a wink at me before she slipped quietly out the door between her brothers. 

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. I WILL SEND AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT CHAPTER TO ALL REVIEWERS

Note – not all of Bella's visitors will be friendly. I updated Renee's story, chapter 3, at the beginning of October. If you haven't read it recently, you might want to check it out, if you would like to guess who's going to show up. Dum-duh-dum-dum.


	33. Chapter 33 - Not-So-Friendly Visitors

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Happy Halloween, everybody! As I am going to be on a short vacation, I am posting two chapters, early, including this scary one. Please show some love, and send me a review.

Chapter 33 – a Not so Friendly Visitor

(Bella's POV)

I get the feeling one evening that we're about to have visitors. Two vampires are approaching the house and have just turned down the driveway. Crazy's still back east, finishing her business with her boss. Carlisle and Jasper are looking relieved, but Jasper is sticking close by. My little jaunt with Crazy to Seattle has still got them rattled. After all, Carlisle had been at home, just a few feet away from me, when I left that night.

I can't help but think about what Crazy said about Jasper and Carlisle not having mates. I'm drawn by both Jasper and Carlisle's scents, and I know Carlisle uses his scent like a drug when he wants to calm me. I also remember Celeste and Luther's relationship. Luther is waiting for my younger cousin to be old enough before they truly become mates. But she is strongly attracted to him. And what do I feel towards Jasper and Carlisle? I realize I don't let myself feel anything. It's not safe.

Someone is approaching. The mind-reader gives me an alert – she's not alone. It's the vampress who changed my mother's husband. She has a tracker with her.

I wonder if I can con Carlisle and Jasper into thinking she's friendly. After all, Edward isn't here to read her mind. As they get closer, Jasper tenses. It looks like he's picking up on some negative energy from the approaching couple. I decide to make my move.

"I think I'm having some more visitors," I tell Carlisle. He had been watching both Jasper and I out of a corner of his eye. He relaxes slightly and begins to smile, when Jasper signals him with a shake of his head. Carlisle continues to smile, but maintains a less relaxed position.

I get up from my pillow in front of the fire and casually walk to the entrance of the patio. Instantly, Jasper slips in front of me. Damn, I really wanted to get a little closer to these vampires without his interference.

Soon two vampires emerge from the forest. They pause at the edge of the clearing in front of the patio. Even though daylight is fading, I recognize the woman from my mother's high school yearbook. The man I have never seen before.

I had learned years ago that you don't call a vampire by name without their express invitation. With humans, if you know their name, but haven't been introduced, you can safely call a person "Mr. or Mrs. X" without offense. But with vampires, only "Sir" or "Ma'am" are safe. That was the way things were even before the Event. So I decide to just jump in and goad them. They're come for me anyway.

"Hello, Connie," I say to the woman. She snarls at me, and the male vampire begins circling, trying to find a way past Carlisle and Jasper. Good luck with that, I think. Does he really think he can out position Major Jasper Whitlock?

Carlisle quickly pushes me behind him and goes into a protective crouch in front of me. He then asks quietly, "What's going on?"

"Connie," I say, as the effrontery of being addressed by her name by a human pushes the vampress further into frenzy. "I recognize you from your high school year book picture. Looks like the change has cleared up your acne, and you've slimmed down a bit. Immortality seems to suit you. You appeared rather homely in your high school graduating class photo. Your haircut wasn't at all flattering. But even that picture was better than the church picnic photos."

Connie's eyes go black, and her hands curl into claws. She begins to go into a crouch, her posture mimicking Carlisle's. The male tracker continues move in semi-circles in front of the patio, testing Jasper and Carlisle. The mind-reader tells me his name is Richard. "So, Richard?" I continue. "What's your story? Did you come here with Connie to die?"

He stiffens and freezes for a moment. "We'll see who does what shortly, little one. But you do smell divine. I can't wait for a taste," he answers smoothly.

Connie starts talking to Carlisle. "Why are you sheltering her? Do you know what she's done? You should turn her over to me."

"So my mother went to prom with the boy you were after," I begin. "But you found another date…a really good looking guy, someone no one had ever seen before. I saw the prom photo. He was way out of your league. Did you two have a good time dancing? What did your father think when he took you home? Oh, wait. I see it now – he took what he wanted from you behind the garage by your house and then left you dying. He didn't either finish you off or wait with you during your change so as to be with you when you woke up. Guess he didn't want to wake up next to that for all eternity."

Carlisle interrupts me, saying, "Stop goading her. Who is this?"

"May I introduce you to Connie," I say sweetly. "My mother considered her a close friend. She not only attended school with my mother, they went to church together. Guess Connie missed that lesson on the Ten Commandments. The one about 'thou shalt not covet…thy neighbor's husband.'"

"So you came back for him," I say, addressing Connie directly. "And you thought you had won, as you had the boy both you and my mother had wanted. You told him to sell his wife, my future mother, as soon as the Event happened, as "death had done them part', thanks to you."

"He never loved her," Connie hissed, "He never knew what I could do. So I showed him when I came back to that town, and I won. He was mine; we had always been meant to be together."

"Oh, well then I guess he wasn't much of a thinker," I say. "After all, I didn't burn all of him. I must, however, have burnt the only parts you were interested in. Because his head is still very much around…"

She lunged at me then, and Jasper caught her easily, twisting her in his arms until he was in a position to rip off her head. The man charged Carlisle, who moved forward gracefully to meet him. Rosalie slipped out on the patio, and crouched in front of me protectively. I froze in position, surprised for a moment, and then stooped behind her.

Jasper quickly finished off Connie, then helped Carlisle with Richard. They dismembered both of them, gathered the limbs, and burnt the two bodies at the edge of the patio. The purple smoke sputtered in the light rain, but there was enough protection from the eaves for the fire to burn the twisting body parts to ash.

They turned back to me after checking the ashes for residue.

"Who was that?" asked Carlisle softly.

"That was the vampire who turned my mother's husband. He had gone on a short business trip in June, 2020. He returned to their house on July 1st, 2020, with another vampire and a bill of sale in his hands. He had sold my mother to this other vampire, who had been given the rights to the local human containment facility and was collecting women for it. He and my mother had only been married a few months, so I guess he felt his wedding vows were ended when 'death did them part'. He made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her or her unborn child."

"You?" asked Rosalie.

"I wasn't my mother's first child," was all I would say about that. After I had escaped the living death camp, I had managed to track my mother's first child, my older brother. He had been taken from my mother and sent to another camp after his birth. He had become a toy to a few of the guards there and had finally escaped his torment into the flights of paranoid schizophrenia. His blood must have still tasted good to them, so the fact that they had to keep him confined in a strait jacket didn't bother them. It was just part of a game for them. By the time I found him, his twisted body had been covered not only with sores from the strait jacket, but also scars from poorly healed bed sores caused by being strapped to a bed for extended periods of time.

When I found him, I killed the vampires holding him and took him to my university friends at Dartmouth. One of my professors had been a physician prior to the event. They had started to work on the drug company formularies trying to get some kind of anti-psychotic for him. They realized there would probably be a large need for anti-psychotics and other psychiatric medications after the liberation of humans.

It had them taken months to get my brother to respond to them without fear. He still couldn't speak rationally, but on good days he would eat meals on his own. They had used various therapies, such as taking him into the sunlight, putting him in a swimming pool, and doing massage and talk therapy. He had begun to respond to their kindness with small returns to rationality. Without drugs, though, they knew didn't have any real hope of bringing him back completely.

The Human Council had been very explicit in their orders concerning my brother. I was to strictly limit my visits and communications with him. If Volterra or anyone realized that I existed, or that my brother could be used to influence me, it would be very dangerous for him. I didn't care about the danger to me. Between the burden of my gift, and the horror and pain I had experienced in my short life, I was ready to die. I didn't want to see any more. My rage at vampires for what they had done to us made me want to live to see the Insurgency. After that I was ready to go, to leave the burden of this hell-hole behind, and join my mother in heaven. And if there was no heaven, I was ready to just be free of the pain.

"What is it? What's going on?" asked Carlisle. I realized I was looking at the best doctor left in this world, and I couldn't ask him about my brother. After all, he knew Aro personally, and with one touch of his hand, Aro could lift all that information. I couldn't risk it.

"Not all my family members made it out of the living death camps," was all I said.

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	34. Chapter 34 - Rosalie Asks a Question

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01

Chapter 34 – Rosalie asks a question

(Bella's POV)

A few days after the fight with Connie, I was still surprised that Rosalie had not only stood in front of me to protect me, but she had spoken to me afterwards. She hadn't spoken to me since I had arrived in Forks in July. Immediately after the fight with Connie, though, she had gone back to her reserved self, sitting across the room from me. But at least things weren't as tense as before.

She stunned me one morning by coming over quietly to sit in one of the chairs by the fireplace.

"What happened to your mother and the rest of your family in July, 2020?" she asked.

None of the Cullens had asked me so directly what had happened to my family. I think that since Jasper had been so intimately involved in the Gathering, they hadn't wanted to raise the possibility of one of Jasper's groups having had a hand in their capture and captivity.

"She didn't tell me much, but the other women there did tell me what they knew," I began. "They said that she had married shortly after she graduated in high school. Just before the Event, her husband had left for a business trip. She learned she was pregnant with their first child while he was gone.

She had wanted to tell him in person," I continued, "so she was waiting for him to come home on July 1st, 2020, when Aro came on the news and announced his new world order. Shortly afterwards, her husband's car pulled up to the house. She ran to the door to meet him. She was stunned to see he had red eyes, which meant he was no longer human, and he wasn't alone. He had another vampire with him.

Her husband refused to speak to her. When she told him about the baby, his only response was hold to out his hand to the other vampire. The second vampire handed him a piece of paper, written in a strange language. Her husband wrote something at the bottom, then turned his back and walked out. The second vampire reached out and put a collar and chain on her neck. She was shocked at her husband's behavior and his refusal to speak to her, but hoped that he had plans to come for her when things were safe. She followed the second vampire in silence when he tugged on the leash.

My mother was taken to a bus, where she waited with other women to be driven the new human containment facility outside of town. As they waited on the bus, they saw groups of people being taken to separate buses. They watched in horror as some people who were waiting in line to get onto a bus were killed. Some of these people had started to resist, and others had done nothing. In all cases, a vampire had walked up to someone waiting in line and pulled them out of the line. Some people been carried off screaming, others attacked and killed in front of the group. The women on the bus listened in terror to the sound of screaming and crying coming from all directions. They didn't know what would happen to them.

Once my mother's group arrived at the facility, they had their clothes and personal belongings taken away and were sent into showers. My mother used to say the showers reminded her of the old movies of prisons and the WWII death camps. When she came out of the shower, she was sent to a bunker-like room, where she would spend the rest of her life. She did not see sunlight or anything from the outside world until the day she and I escaped.

During the first few months, the constituency of her group changed constantly. Three walls of the bunker room were made of concrete blocks, and the fourth wall had bars. Vampires came to the barred side of the room and were able to point to individual women. The guards would make the women come to the bars. Sometimes the women were taken out, never to be seen again, and others would take their place. Sometimes the women were just allowed to return to the group without incident.

After a few months, there was no more news from the outside world. In the early months, women were still being brought in from more remote areas, and they told of the entire governing bodies being murdered by vampires. Some of these attacks were televised, and were broadcast over and over in the early months, my mother was told. The president and congress of both Germany and Serbia had been shown being attacked in chambers and killed in a bloody frenzy by a group of vampires.

After that, all humans were supposed to be in custody. There hadn't been much communication other than by television, as vampires could quickly track cell phone calls and would pick up anyone using a cell phone while trying to hide. After a year, any newcomers to the group were women or children who were being transferred between facilities. There were no more women being brought in from the outside world.

About a year after that, the only newcomers to the cell block were infants that were given to women to raise. Where these newborns came from, they never knew. If a woman was allowed to keep one baby from a pregnancy, the future children were usually taken from her, so the assumption had always been that these were some other incarcerated woman's children. No one was allowed to speak to the vampire guards or ask them questions. The guards never spoke in English; they gave all their orders in vampiri. They used their cattle prods to make their points, when they weren't being obeyed quickly enough.

I grew up in that dim room with her. Aside from eye and hair color, there weren't many other colors. The thin smocks they gave us to wear were undyed cotton. The guards' uniforms were always grey. The shoes that only the guards wore were a shiny black. I learned most of my colors from the bruises left on my arms or legs by the exsanguination machine.

The outside world was described to us in terms of the colors from bruises. My mother said the sky overhead could be any number of colors, from orange and red in the morning and evening, to blue during the day. There were trees and plants that had brown or green stems or trunks and green leaves or flowers. There were animals and birds with fur or feathers in many different colors. Some of these animals, they told me, had lived in houses with people, such as cats and dogs. Others had been wild animals, such as bears and panthers, and were only seen in zoos.

After a while, some of us growing up in those rooms had begun to wonder if any of what the older women said was true.

But, really," I said to Rosalie, "Edward works in a living death camp; you can ask him what life there is like. As for what human life is generally like outside the camps, well, you have two humans at your house, and Jasper has one at his. What do they say about their lives and families?"

Rosalie looked at me, and said "I never asked them, it's against the Rules."

I decided to push this new openness with a coven member, so I asked her, "Is there anything in the Rules about forcing blood slaves to live hungry? Why don't you give them enough to eat?"

She looked at me and started to withdraw back into her usual haughty persona. Esme asked, "Why do you ask that, dear? Of course Rosalie feeds her human companions well. Why wouldn't Rosalie give the humans who live with her plenty of food? She certainly has enough money."

Rosalie didn't answer. We heard the sound of a bicycle coming up the driveway, and Esme went to the door.

I could hear her talking to Emily as she helped her up the front steps. "Emily, dear, how nice to see you! You should call us when you are thinking of coming. I would have come to pick you up."

As they walked in the front door, Emily laughed and replied, "I wanted to ride the bike. It's my only exercise." She came into view, wearing a bright pieced patterned sleeveless top held up by spaghetti straps, and maternity jeans that hung very low on her hips. She had matching necklace in pastel clear beads. She looked radiant. She also looked like she was about to burst. She handed Esme a basket of eggs, which Esme took into the kitchen.

Emily more waddled then walked over towards me. I jumped up and gave her a hug.

"Is little Sue going to make her first appearance in this living room?" I asked.

"I don't think so. No activity down there yet," she said, patting her stomach, "at least not anything about anyone getting ready to come out. I'm already two weeks overdue, and I'm beginning to think she's planning to stay right where she is. I keep having the same dream almost every night: I can see us now, at what should be her second birthday. I'll be pushing my stomach in a wheelbarrow, trying to bribe her to come out by telling her she won't get to open her birthday presents until she shows herself!"

Jasper helped her sit down on the couch. "Thank you," she told him. "If I didn't have immortal men helping me in and out of chairs, I would probably need a lift. I don't think a mortal man could get me up," she laughed.

Jasper replied, "You're hardly heavy, little lady."

"Nobody's calling me little these days," she answered with a laugh. "But keep it up, I love hearing the flattery! So, I hear Leah dropped in from the blue. Literally. The whole pack is going on about how she flew that Cessna. And she had never landed or taken off before. Now that girl has her nerve."

"I don't think a plane crash would affect her like it would affect us," I countered. "She could probably just get up and walk away."

Esme came back in, after putting away the eggs, with a bouquet made from her roses. "Will you have some brunch?" she asked Emily. "I was just about to make 99 something to eat."

I smiled at hearing Esme call me 99. She only called me that when there was a visitor. She called me 'dear' the rest of the time.

"I've never said 'no' to food, even before I had this excuse to eat," laughed Emily, patting her stomach.

My thoughts moved to Ardella, Jasper's blood slave. I could no longer stand her situation at Jasper's house. Every time he or Alice walked in, my gift kept picking up the same picture from them. Ardella just sat in her room on her bed, in the dark. She never left her room unless she was ordered to go to the exsanguination machine. She had stopped leaving her room of her own volition three days after Jasper and Alice took her newborn away from her. And, Ardella was always hungry. Alice fed her measured amounts from the bags of food she bought, feeding her precisely the amount shown in the directions for her weight and age. Never a pellet more or less. And it was never enough.

The cousins and I had devised a plan to improve Ardella's life. We had managed to get a mental connection to her, and we had started to talk to her using this connection. She hadn't heard human language since Clyde's visit to her, when she was impregnated. So even though we were disembodied voices in her head, she was so starved for contact that she was listening to us. And we thought we had a way for her to get her baby back.

I had heard that Alice couldn't remember anything from her human past. Well, because of my gift, Alice's past was clear enough to me from the memories that rolled off of her whenever she was around. Maybe, just maybe, we could give Ardella enough information about Alice's human life that Ardella could negotiate the return of her daughter Amy.

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Next chapter will be in Jasper's POV.


	35. Chapter 35 - The Ardella Problem, I

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01

Chapter 35 – The Ardella Problem, part 1

_Author's note – I have posted an outtake of the incidents that will be contained in the next chapter (Chapter 36) as a separate story, called "The Insurgency Outtake, Alice and Her Blood Slaves". If you are an Alice fan, this is not the story for you. It shows some of the events from the next few chapters from Alice's POV. If there is any interest in this separate posting (as in reviews), I will update it to include the actions covered in the future chapters. I may not leave it up for long, since, as a long time Alice fan, it makes me a little nervous. It shows a shallow, very self-absorbed Alice, but I believe the characterization is consistent and complete. I wrote it in response to a comment left by one of the reviewers. I originally wrote the chapter as an experiment, creating a monologue for an Alice that is quite different than the character I usually imagine._

(Jasper's POV)

These past few months had been unreal. It had really started February, almost three years ago. Carlisle had told me he was going on a trip to some town in the Midwest and asked me to accompany him.

That request was odd, as he and I had never been close. In his coven, I had always been the one they watched, the one too close to giving in to his bloodlust in any given moment. I was always so tempted by those children I was surrounded with on a daily basis while attending high school decade after decade.

So for me, the Event of July 2020 had been a kind of a release. Caius himself had called me in late March 2020, and summoned me to Volterra. I had actually missed a high school graduation with the Cullens.

Once I was in Volterra, Caius had taken me into his confidence and shown me the central planning room of Volterra. The room was like a war room, with walls covered with maps and grids. He had laid out the plan for the takeover planned for July 2020 and said he wanted me to organize teams to round up the humans. Initially I felt some hesitation and sympathy for the humans, but I steeled myself for the task. If the Volturi really turned the vampires loose on the humans, there would be a bloodbath that could lead to near extermination of the human race. I would use my skills to train groups to round up the humans and put them in confinement facilities.

Humans, after all, had been placing various populations in detention facilities throughout their history. Whether it was for petty crime, debt, major crimes, or war crimes, society never seemed to run out of excuses to keep some portion of their population imprisoned. In the long run, Cauis' plan would keep more of the humans alive and safe. Safe enough that their blood could be drawn on a regular basis in order to feed a vampire master race.

The Volturi had decided to divide up the world by continents in their new empire and wanted to send out Gathering teams by continent. I was given North America as my primary assignment, but I had oversight of all the Gathering groups. So I trained all of the group leaders, then hand-picked my own captains from among those I had trained. I built and trained my personal teams and dispatched them to cities to wait for my orders. On July 1, 2020, we had quickly moved to round up the human populations in all the major cities, before we worked our way through the smaller cities within the following weeks.

Once the humans were gathered, they were to be moved to the facilities that would house most of them for the rest of their lives. The human containment facilities had been worked on for over a year. They were generally on the edge of the towns they were to serve and were being built in the guise of warehouses. I toured a few out of curiosity. I noticed there was no access to sunlight in any of the buildings, and no exercise areas, but planning these buildings wasn't my responsibility.

One feature of these facilities fascinated me, though. I was very interested in the exsanguination equipment which was the centerpieces of the human containment facilities. These were marvels of engineering. They had been modeled on the milking machines humans had created for cows. When a human sat on the seat, a strap would be placed on the limb that was to be used. A human's arms, legs, and neck were all options for blood drawing sites. The machines would then calculate how much blood could be drawn by the weight of the human in the chair. The entire process was automated, so that the vampire only had to strap in the human and then could walk away during the extraction process. The extracted blood was placed in a disposable bag for removal after completion. These machines had gone into wide scale production, as they would eventually be placed in all vampire homes, as well as the facilities.

The exsanguination machines had been developed by humans, based on medical equipment designed for handling highly contagious blood-borne diseases. The Volturi had put out a request for bids for the machines in 2017, three years prior to the planned Event. The request for bids had cleverly disguised the true reason for the reason for the machines. The bid request had been couched in terms of medical necessity in the war on terrorism, for use in case of blood borne illnesses transmitted during a bioterrorist attack. The machines were to be developed, the bid request explained, so that patients in isolation units could safely be tested without exposing the medical technicians to possible airborne contagions. Humans were so obsessed with the various forms of their own brand of terrorism. Their public and scientific imaginations had been captured by various medical doomsday scenarios, which included the weaponization of any of the viral hemorrhagic diseases, such as Ebola or Marburg. They worried that either of these diseases could be developed into a biological weapon that could be dispersed via aerosol dissemination. In the end, there were multiple contest submissions, and Caius chose the one that appeared the sturdiest. After all, there weren't going to be human technicians around to service these things. The equipment had to be able to stand up for years for use on a daily basis.

The stupid humans bought into it, and any lingering doubts that they might have had about the true reason for such equipment were conveniently dismissed when Caius put a large cash prize as an incentive. Many teams went to work developing design specs, competing for the prize. In the end, four companies produced completed machines, and Caius finally selected one and had it put in large scale production. He wanted the production process completed automated, because when the Volturi took over, he wasn't going to leave a lot of educated humans around to continue manufacturing and servicing them.

Vampires had come out into the open ten years earlier, and Caius had also been funding the development of a tranquilizer at one of the pharmaceutical facilities. The Volturi wanted a tranquilizer to be placed in human blood to stop the blood lust that occurs once a vampire tastes human blood. The development of this tranquilizer had been kept top secret. This had been simple enough, due to the highly secretive nature of pharmaceutical research in general, and by promising the humans doing the research cash bonuses for their silence. The Volturi also assigned mind-readers to the key personnel doing the work, and any human who was thought to be on the verge of talking about their work was simply killed.

The Event went forward as planned, and I oversaw the gathering of the humans. Within weeks, the worldwide human population had been placed into some form of vampire custody. In addition to the facilities, humans were taken to auction houses or in some cases directly to vampire homes. There had been some small, futile attempts at resistance initially, and various populations outside of the main cities had attempted to go into hiding. Trackers loved the opportunity to look for those who had escaped, and not many of those human who managed to escape the cities and were located by trackers actually survived. But my gathering groups had placed enough humans into the containment facilities that the vampire race could be reliably supplied with bottled human blood for decades to come.

I had gone back to Forks in mid-August 2020. Carlisle had not been particularly happy with my role in the Event, but I told him it meant more humans would live. A few years later, when Alice and Rosalie both decided they wanted to buy their own human pets, a rift had come in the family. Obviously in order to keep a human pet, we had to move out of the main house. So Rosalie and Emmett had picked a house in Forks for themselves, and I had moved into my own house with Alice. After all, Alice and I had traveled together for years prior to finding the Cullens, and I felt I should stick with her now. Female vampires weren't really safe on their own. Male vampires could be vicious, and bottom line, we were territorial. Alice had become part of my turf; I would defend her from the others. Though she wasn't my mate, she was my responsibility.

Carlisle and Esme said they wouldn't visit our houses as long as we kept humans enslaved in them. For me, their decision to stay away from us had come as something of a relief. This way I didn't have to put up with Carlisle's disapproval anymore. I just went to work and came home. Sometimes I went out with Edward and Emmett to Seattle; sometimes I went to visit Peter and Charlotte in Texas. We had stayed in Forks, though. One key component of the laws laid out by Aro was that you had to register in a city and live there for five years before you could move. The girls had wanted to stay close to Esme. So we had stayed in the rainy hick town of Forks for almost 17 years when I started to get restless. I was close to leaving Alice behind and moving back to Texas.

One of the more bothersome components of Aro's new order had been the restrictions on travel. You had to register travel plans with the cops, as they were trying to pen in the nomads. I had saved my trip vouchers for my Texas trips. Alice liked to go to New York, Paris, and Milan for each new fashion season, and she started traveling separately to see the fashion shows. What they were showing, I don't know. It's not like there was new fashion. With the humans gone, gone too were the industries devoted to clothing production. Vampires didn't like performing the tedious jobs of manufacturing textiles or producing clothes on a mass scale. But the fashion houses had not only survived the Event, they thrived on the vampire appetite for novelty.

The fashion "designers" would go into the warehouses of existing clothing the humans had produced prior to the Event, and assemble outfits and accessorize them in very odd ways, as far as I was concerned. They claimed that human fashion had always recycled the looks from previous eras. How many ways were there to make a skirt, after all? They took a lot of their inspiration from Hollywood movies. There had been a resurgence in the Annie Hall look one season, and the geisha look was all the rage now. Heavy white paint on the girls' faces, with eyebrows and lips put on with pencil. Me, I was waiting for the western look to come into vogue. Put some of these girls into jeans and boots. Now that would look hot.

So when Carlisle asked me to go on this trip with him in late January 2037, I was surprised, but I agreed to accompany him. I immediately picked up that he was restless too. When we got to Columbia, MO our restlessness increased. I sensed that we were both looking for something, and we were both willing to revert to our more primitive vampire selves seeking it. It was strange to see Carlisle give in to his primitive side and move into hunter mode as we searched the town. Carlisle dutifully went to his seminar, something about the falling reproduction rate among the women living in the containment facilities, during the days while he attended his seminar sessions, while I was left on my own. I scouted every inch of that town, not sure what I was looking for.

When Carlisle was done with his seminar, he joined me. We spoke little, but together we re-covered every inch of the town again. Since our visit occurred during late January and early February, the trees were bare and the grass was dead. The town looked bleak, hardly any natural color anywhere. The snow had mostly melted, leaving slush and mud on the roads, and there were abandoned houses everywhere. Some houses that had probably run down at the time of the Event seventeen years earlier were close to collapse. Fast food restaurants, empty for seventeen years, still looked garish. There was the usual human containment facility on the edge of town. There were even some human bones in the woods by the facility, obviously only a few weeks old. But whatever it was we were looking for in that town, we never found it.

But a bond began to form between Carlisle and I that week. We started spending more time together, traveling together in a comfortable silence. He started accepting every request to cover for a doctor at another human containment facility anywhere in the country, and he also accepted every invitation to a seminar. He could always argue that he needed a travel companion, so I never had to use my travel vouchers for our trips together. I knew that if I really needed to travel, Caius would just let me go wherever I wanted, but I didn't like calling in favors. I didn't want the Volturi in my business, asking questions. I took their monthly stipends for my work on the Gathering, but I didn't want their involvement in my life.

Then, last July, Carlisle had gone alone to Chicago. There had been freak weather patterns over the past several years, and this one had caused an anomalous cold spell in what should have been the heat of summer. Carlisle called me from Chicago and said he had found her. He didn't need to say anything else.

He told me he had asked Esme to prepare a room for her in his house. He warned me that the girl was scarred and severely malnourished. It would take time for us to earn her trust. I wanted to catch the next plane to Chicago, but he said he needed me to help get the house ready for her, and to spend the next few days getting some of his other properties prepped in case we had to move her. He was going to drive back to Forks from Chicago, because he said her scent was intoxicating, and he wasn't going to risk taking her onto a plane.

Eleazar and his coven were at the house when Carlisle brought the girl in. He had wrapped her in a blanket, and she looked tiny in his arms. She had wide brown eyes and a heart-shaped face framed by short brown hair trimmed close to her head. She had looked dazed when he walked in with her, and she hid her face in Carlisle's coat when she saw all the vampires in the living room. I started to approach Carlisle to get a closer look at her when I was hit by her scent. It nearly knocked me over while at the same time drawing me in. She had the sweetest blood I had ever smelled. Every vampire in the room was having the same reaction, and the combined blood lust was hitting me hard. But this was my mate, and I needed to protect her. I started to go into a protective crouch in front of Carlisle, but he moved quickly and took her to the prepared room upstairs. He paused in front of the door to his study, and suggested I go to a window, get a breath of air, and then hold my breath before coming into her room.

I did so quickly and returned to watch as he gently set her down on her bed and let her out of the blanket. I stood back, watching while he acquainted her with the upstairs rooms, assessing her emotional state. She seemed oddly unafraid. Her emotions, which had initially been over shadowed by the bloodlust of the other vampires in the living room, finally came through. Her emotions startled me, as she seemed happy, almost carefree. I hadn't felt those emotions from a human in almost twenty years. Sensing these emotions from a human who had just been brought into a house with over ten vampires seemed very odd, but it was good that she was so trusting. In the short time Carlisle had spent with her, he seemed to have gained her trust.

Now, a few months later, her emotions have stayed on this even keel. She has gained weight, and her body is filling out. She has become a lovely young girl by anyone's standards. Her hair is growing out; it has reached her jaw line. Esme and Alice want to trim it, so it will look styled, but Carlisle and I don't want anything but shampoo near that hair. No scissors. We want it to grow out long, shiny, and beautiful. We want to see it halfway down her back. All that hair cutting will only make it shorter.

She's got secrets, that's for sure. Carlisle has said little about how he found her, except that she knew how to defend herself. She told us that she was in the Human Resistance movement, but she is only 13 or 14 years old. What could she have done in the resistance? She's told a few stories that didn't make a lot of sense, including how she had fought and killed vampires. She's never given details about how she did that fighting. I've asked around, but no one knows much about the human resistance. There are a few colonies, as there always have been, but all human colonies have to be registered with Caius. Each colony is overseen by a vampire tracker, and these colonies really only exist as sources of vampire entertainment. The humans didn't set them up this way and certainly never intended this when they formed the colonies hoping to escape enslavement, but this was the reality. All forms of human existence were to be overseen by vampires in our world. No independent human existence was permitted under our laws.

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	36. Chapter 36 - The Ardella Problem (cont)

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01

_Author's note – I have posted an outtake of the incidents that will be contained in this chapter as a separate story, called "The Insurgency Outtake, Alice and Her Blood Slaves". If you are an Alice fan, this is not the story for you. It shows some of the events from the next few chapters from Alice's POV. If there is any interest in this separate posting (as in reviews), I will update it to include the actions covered in the future chapters. I may not leave it up for long, since, as a long time Alice fan, it makes me a little nervous. It shows a shallow, very self-absorbed Alice, but I believe the characterization is consistent and complete. I wrote it in response to a comment left by one of the reviewers. I originally wrote the chapter as an experiment, creating a monologue for an Alice that is quite different than the character I usually imagine._

Chapter 36 – The Ardella problem (continued)

(Jasper's POV)

_FROM CHAPTER 35 She's got secrets, that's for sure. Carlisle has said little about how he found her, except that she knew how to defend herself. She told us that she was in the Human Resistance movement, but she is only 13 or 14 years old. I've asked around, but no one knows much about the human resistance. There are a few colonies, as there always have been, but all human colonies have to be registered with Caius. Each colony is overseen by a vampire tracker, and these colonies only exist as sources of vampire entertainment. The humans didn't set them up this way, and certainaly never intended this when they formed the colonies hoping to escape enslavement, but this was the reality. All forms of human existence were to be overseen by vampires in our world. No independent human existence was permitted under our laws._

Caius gave a few petitions to some vampire trackers to allow free-range humans on their properties. That is, as long as certain requirements are met. The humans are not allowed to use permanent structures: in other words, they cannot move into abandoned houses. They can live in tents or caves, if they want. But if they want the comforts of home, they will have to be blood slaves.

The colony humans are not allowed to grow crops, as this could lead to true independence. Any crops found should be burned. The vampires with the permits for colonies on their land can give food to their human herds during the winter, but the humans should be forced to "forage like animals" if they want to "live free", as Caius put it. The vampires can offset the cost of supplying food and blankets by granting hunting licenses, allowing other vampires to hunt their herd.

And there were plenty of takers for those licenses. The giddy freedom of July 2020, when all humans were targets and could be taken at will, had not been forgotten. It had ended all too soon, so that by the end of 2021, there were very few humans left in freedom. There were a few groups of humans hiding in the mountains or woods, protected by gifted warriors, and Caius had decided to let those remain for the time being. He planned to personally exterminate those in the future, but was still caught up in Volterra with the day-to-day running of this new empire. He looked forward to the future challenge and occasionally contacted me because one of these groups, the Quileute Indian tribe, lived outside of Forks. He had a map of the world in his personal quarters, where all identified colonies were coded with blue pins, and identified resistance groups remaining from 2020 were marked with red pins. He was lining up a few trips so he would be able to hunt for the first time in centuries. First he planned to eliminate the groups protected by gifted warriors, and then maybe relax by hunting a few colonists for food and sport.

Aro had always left the security side of the empire with Caius. Aro ran the more mundane administrative items, like ensuring that the bottled blood supply being produced by the human containment facilities was reliable, secure, and reasonably priced. Not everyone could afford to keep a human. I knew from personal experience that maintaining one was expensive. Not only did you have to feed and clothe them, but you had to keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And if you had a human in your house, you were subjected to continuous police scrutiny, making sure you were following the Rules.

The Rules were simple to follow. Just don't talk to the humans, keep them off the furniture, make them wear their collars and leashes, and don't let them read. If you kept a stern hand from the get-go, it was pretty simple. The main rule, which was never put in writing, though, was don't get emotionally attached. This wasn't hard for me. Humans had never really interested me except as a food source.

All of that flew out the window when Carlisle arrived with the girl. His house was far enough out of town that we didn't have to worry about the cops. He had gotten an emergency court order for keeping her while he was in Chicago, which meant the Forks cops wouldn't find out about her for a while. He got the food for her from Miniver's grocery store. He always paid a few hundred dollars extra on each delivery, to ensure Gwen Miniver didn't report the food to the cops. She always groaned and said she might get in trouble with the local cops when the girl's existence became known, but money made that groan go away.

I wanted to change the girl as soon as possible, but Carlisle pointed out that she wasn't even sexually mature yet. She needed time to grow up a little bit more. If things got too bad, we could always move her to another property. Carlisle had properties everywhere from back in the pre-Event days, and we had started having the utilities checked and tested at a few of the houses that were close by. These included a nice, remote property in Colorado, in case we needed to move with her suddenly. I thought that when we finally did mate and change her, we would take her there. We wouldn't have neighbors, and there was a small airstrip nearby, so we could catch a flight to South America easily if we needed to. Most vampires who illegally changed a human either did so in South America, or moved to South America during the vampire's newborn phase. Life was easier going there, and cops were used to making a good living off of bribes. Money talked, and Carlisle had managed to keep most of his.

The girl's recent escapades, including running off to Seattle with Crazy, were annoying. We might have to deal with Miss Crazy in the future. It is true that Crazy rescued her from the guard who planned to sell her to a brothel, but now that little 99 has found her mates, it is time for Crazy to take a few steps back. Crazy needs to understand that we will be taking care of her from now on. Carlisle has refused to discipline our little mate in any traditional fashion. He just holds her close to him, and she responds well to that. She seemed to respond to either of our scents, which would bode well for the time when she became our mate.

But right now, I suddenly had a more pressing matter.

The first human that Alice had bought had been killed by the cops. Alice had always been able to get what she wanted and get away with what she wanted. She learned a hard lesson with her first human. I tried to warn her, but of course she didn't listen. The chicken-ass cops had waited until I was out of town to pay their visit. Alice had started to treat the human almost like an equal, like a friend. This was exactly what the cops were out to eradicate with the Rules. The girl had been calling Alice by name, sitting on the furniture, and going outside in the back yard before we had put up a fence.

When the cops came to the house, the girl had answered the door. Before answering it, she had called out to Alice by name, asking her if she was expecting visitors. So Alice's girl had two violations of the five Rules violations that were necessary for the cops to legally kill her before the cops even got in the house. The cops found their five violations quickly, since she sank onto the sofa while they talked to Alice, and she hadn't been wearing her collar. They asked Alice about the lack of a fence, and Alice tried to tell them that yes, she had let the girl outside without a fence, but she knew the property boundaries.

That was all the cops needed. They pulled the girl on the floor and drained then dismembered her in front of Alice. It took us months to get the smell of the blood out of the house. Then the cops moved on Alice. They told her that had the right to kill her on the spot, but they weren't going to actually kill her. I was on the phone when they told her that and was still listening helplessly while they carried out their action. They dismembered Alice and threw her body on the front lawn for the entire city to see.

Emmett and Esme got to the house before I could get home. They helped reassemble Alice, as they cops had left her limbs strewn across the lawn to set an example. When Emmett arrived, Alice's hands had crawled back to the house, and one was scrabbling at the front door.

I was enraged. She wasn't my true mate, but the insult was meant for me as well.

Alice had decided to get a new human a few years later. We followed the Rules carefully with this new girl, Ardella. I told Alice if she wanted a human so bad, then she needed to assume all responsibility for her care. Alice fed the girl exactly what the purchased bags of food suggested. I felt the girl's hunger, but I left everything up to Alice. She wanted the girl, so she would be Alice's responsibility.

We even bred Ardella according to the Rules. Emmett brought over his male pet when she turned 16. I gave the couple a healthy dose of lust and the privacy of a bedroom. It didn't take long before she was pregnant. When the baby was born, I took it back to the Seattle human containment facility to be raised since the baby's crying had been bothering Alice. We would get a deal on the blood by giving the facility a girl child. If we wanted to buy her back in the future, we would be given first option and a reduced price.

Three days after we took the baby from Ardella, Ardella stopped coming out of her room. She stopped cleaning the house for Alice and would only come out the room when it was time for her blood to be drawn. Alice was frustrated, as she was used to having the pet do the heavy cleaning chores, but she was incapable of truly enforcing discipline. Alice finally gave up on trying making the girl do the housework.

As an empath, having a human in the house was a draining experience for me. Before the baby, the girl Ardella experienced fear and loneliness. After the baby, the feelings coming from her were overwhelming. In addition to the fear and loneliness, she felt rage and betrayal. I made sure that rage wasn't going to be expressed, using my powers as an empath. And what was this feeling of betrayal? Did she really think she was going to keep this baby? She had actually spoken to Alice after the child's birth, telling her she was naming the baby Amy.

I stopped going to the house, except to change clothes and to sign checks to pay my bills. I had started to keep my accounts separate from Alice. She was living off of an allowance given to her by Carlisle and Esme. I didn't know how much longer Carlisle would put up with Alice's spendthrift ways. Carlisle worked tirelessly; he always had. Esme stayed home, keeping the house. After Alice's pathetic attempts at housekeeping, she should have had more respect for the work that Esme did. One of the reasons Alice gave for getting the second girl was to get help with the housekeeping. I supplemented the stipend I was still receiving from Volterra for my work on the Gathering with freelance work. I spent my free time at the bar Emmett worked at, when he was on duty, or at Edward's.

But a few days ago, Alice called. The human, Ardella, had left her room of her own accord. She had walked downstairs into the kitchen and then looked out the back doors, before going back upstairs. She had started to leave her room a few times a day, though she would not resume the cleaning chores Alice wanted her to perform. When I stopped in to change clothes, I was picking up a variety of emotions from her. She actually looked me in the eye. That had to be stopped. One glare from me, and she dropped her eyes to the appropriate position. I lived in slave-holding Texas when I was human, and while we weren't rich, we had slaves. I knew how to enforce obedience with subordinates. But Ardella's feelings had contained a mix of curiosity and, of all things, pity. I sent her a small dose of fear, and she quickly ran back to her room.

I told Alice that I couldn't always be coming to the house for the girl's exsanguinations. If she wanted the human's blood so bad, she would have to do it herself.

Today Alice called and whispered that the girl had been in the basement. She had found some of the clothes the original human inhabitants of the house had worn. The woman had been Ardella's height, so Ardella had found slacks, shoes, and a top that fit her. Alice had found her wearing these in her room when she went to summon her for the blood drawing.

Ardella had refused the order. She looked Alice in the eye, and said, "Call Jasper." Alice had obviously run out of the room, and was calling me, using a whispered voice.

Now that shit had to stop. She was to wear the clothes we gave her, and she was going to obey orders. As Alice already knew, a human calling a vampire by name was a quick route to death.

I was going home to deal with this situation.

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	37. Chapter 37 - The Ardella Problem - Deal

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 37– The Ardella Situation, Part 3 – The Deal

JASPER'S POV

_I was going home to deal with this situation._

When I got home, I closed the door loudly, so that even a human would know that someone had entered the house. I walked slowly across the living room at human speed. Even with the curtains drawn as usual, the room still gleamed in white in the half light, due to the white carpeting and white upholstery on the furniture. I could hear Ardella's heartbeat accelerate with nervousness at my entrance. Good, that would make my job even easier.

I walked up the stairs to the second bedroom, the room we kept Ardella in, and stood in the doorway with my arms crossed. Ardella was sitting on her simple bed, in her sparsely decorated room. A bed and an old dresser were the only pieces of furniture that we had put in the room. There was a small closet by the bricked over window, but it was empty as she didn't have any clothes or other belongings to store in it.

Just as Alice had described over the phone, Ardella was dressed in black leggings, an oversized white shirt, and black ballet flats. She should have been wearing the clothes we provided, an undyed cotton dress. When I reached the door to her room, she was sitting on her bed, staring at Alice. When she saw me, she automatically dropped to her knees on the floor, bowing her head, in the standard human submissive position.

I picked up a cocktail of emotions coming from her, including fear, excitement, and determination. There was barely any of trace of the despair and depression I had felt for the past two years.

I gave the Vampiri command for her to go to the exsanguination machine.

Surprisingly, she slowly raised her head, and stated simply, "I want my baby back." Her heart rate accelerated, and I allowed a pause. The determination in her emotions waivered than shot back up. She looked up at me, and I stared directly at her, towering above her from her position on the floor. The determination she was feeling, mixed with the rising fear, was beginning to draw my respect. I quashed that feeling of respect quickly.

My only response to her statement was the slow repetition of my command. At this, she began to speak, in a wavering voice that grew stronger as she spoke. "I see the neck and mane of a horse, white with golden-red spots. I see a dirt road and a landscape that opens out flat in all directions. The horse pauses to eat from a small scrabble of grass. The reins slip though the rider's hand, as he allows the horse his head. Looking down, I see the rider is wearing a gray shirt and pants. There are gold stars on the shirt pocket."

"On the road ahead, there is a slight rise," her voice continues, her eyes moving as if she is viewing the events she is describing. "I can hear the sound of water on the other side. As the horse reaches the top of the hill, it becomes skittish and fights going forward. I see three women at the foot of the hill by the river. It is twilight, and their skins almost seem to glow in the dark. Two have dark hair, and one is blonde.

The rider dismounts and begins to lead the reluctant horse down to the river. The rider bows to the three women. They are whispering, and the one in the middle, a stunning Hispanic woman with black hair wearing a white outfit with a torn bodice, calls out, 'What is your name, soldier?'" At this point, Ardella pauses for a second, coming out of her reverie to glance quickly at my face.

I begin to feel a chill. This is the story of my change event. It is well enough known, but how did she hear it? She could have picked it up somewhere. I don't like that she is telling it, but I can't move. Her emotions have turned to increasing determination, and she is fighting for control of her excitement.

Ardella continues, "The rider answers, with another bow, 'Major Jasper Whitlock, ma'am, at your service.'

The middle woman steps forward, and the rider tenses. Something is wrong; the horse begins to fight for its head, which it quickly gains so that it backs up a few yards. The woman says simply, 'Well, Major, I hope you survive this; I feel you may be of great use to me.'

Then she is on the rider's neck, and pain begins." Ardella pauses momentarily, and then begins again. "The next thing I sense is the focusing of this pain to a single place, and a thudding that first surges painfully, then stops suddenly. I feel it must have been a heartbeat. Someone's eyes snap open, and there is no more blackness. Instead, there is a confusion of sights in front of me, with clarity not known before. But the feeling of threat is very high. There are many people in the barn-like room I am in, and their emotions are all dangerous. They are full of anger, fear, and murder.

A beautiful voice calls out; with a message that belies the beauty of the instrument of its transmission: 'I see you are awake. Now we'll see how long you survive. You feel a burning in your throat, yes?' At that moment a terrible feeling comes into my throat, and I claw at it." Ardella's hands reach for her throat, as if she is beginning to experience the story.

"The woman's voice continues, as my eyes find focus and land on her," Ardella continues steadily. "'One of you will get the food; the other will die. Bruno - '. Instantly, a huge man is in front of me, but I don't have time to focus on him. He grabs my throat and begins to twist. Instinctively, I grab his throat in response and instinctively throw my feelings of fear and rage at him. Somehow, his grasp begins to loosen; I am beginning to win this battle of survival. I don't know what I am, my speed and strength are new, and the thirst is overpowering. "

Ardella pauses and then stands up from her kneeling position. I begin to growl at her, and while she hesitates and shakes for a second, she holds her head up and looks Alice in the face. As she begins speaking, her eyes become distant, but her voice gains in strength. This time she speaks in first person confidently from the start, as if seeing everything through her own eyes.

"My eyes open, and I see something that looks like an alien landscape," Ardella begins, staring at Alice. "A white plant, the size of a cabbage, is balanced on a stem in front of me. Gradually I realize I am looking at a flower, but it is unlike any flower I have ever seen. I am lying on my stomach with my face on one side, and I am looking at a clover. But this scene of the grass is unlike anything I've seen before. I start to stand up and feel very odd. Something tells me 'don't look back', so I run forward, without a glance behind.

I run for a few seconds and then slow down," says Ardella, as the expression on Alice's face changes to amazement. "I hear a thudding sound and smell an unbelievable sweet smell. I turn towards the smell and sound. I find myself on a street. Are these people I am getting this attraction from? Then someone calls to me, 'Miss Alice, are you ok?'

I turn towards this person and spring at him. Within seconds, I have sunk my teeth in his neck and am sucking the sweetness out of his body greedily," Ardella continues, without wavering. Alice beings to growl, but I motion Ardella to continue. "The blood runs out quickly, but my thirst does not. I stay in the darkness, and walk a little further. I hear a gasp, and turn.

There is a couple walking towards me. The woman says 'Alice! We thought…', at the same time as the man says 'Oh, Miss Ali…" He never gets to complete his words, as I grasp both of them, dragging them into the dark of an alley." Alice's growl becomes more menacing, but I put a hand out to keep her from Ardella, who continues her story. "I slam her head into the wall as I sink my teeth into the man's throat. When his blood runs out, I lean down and start on her body. Her heart is still beating; I can hear it, and her blood comes out of her throat into my mouth. When I am done sucking, I lick the blood from her head wound. Looking up, I see my reflection in a store window. I am in a white smock, covered in blood, dirt and grime."

Ardella stops. Then she says, speaking directly to Alice, "I understand you do not know your human past, that you cannot recall it. I do know it. I know about your family, your siblings, your birthday parties, your pets. I can tell you about your mother, and how it came that you were changed. Who had to die so that you could become an immortal. And I can name those three people whose throats you ripped out in your first moments as a newborn, the ones who taught you your name. You didn't look behind you when you woke up. That was a good idea, as what was behind you that evening was not good.

I can tell you who you were as a human, and what happened. But first, I want my daughter back."

Ardella stops talking and waits. Her emotions begin to reveal nervousness, with spurts of determination.

Now this was an interesting complication. The far-away distant look I saw on Ardella's face as she was telling our stories was a look I was familiar with. I had seen it on Alice when she was having visions. Ardella's face had that same look, slightly different, accompanied by varying emotions. Did Ardella have a gift? How had we not noticed this before? Did we need to report it to Aro? Maybe I should call in Eleazar.

Alice broke the silence first. She began whispering to me in Vampiri.

"We can just bring her a baby," whispered Alice in a conspiratorial tone. "We wouldn't have to bring her own baby; it will cost us a lot to retrieve the child from the Seattle facility. The McKenzie's up the street are raising a child, and she's about the right age. We could just bring that baby over and hand it to her. Once she tells us my story, we can take it back to the McKenzie's. How would she ever know?"

I started to reply, thinking about what Alice was saying. It was probably not a good idea to not play straight with someone with a gift, when Ardella's voice startled both of us.

She had backed away from us and then looked straight at both of us, trembling but determined. She kept her back straight and held her head high. "I will know whether you bring me my own child. And, to ensure that I get my child and get to keep her, I will tell Alice details of her human life, but I will not give place names or human last names. I want you to bring me my child, and I want the child to stay with me, here in this house, while I raise her. And you will give both of us decent food and clothing."

With that, she sat on her bed, put her hands in her lap, and stared straight at me, pointedly ignoring Alice.

What the fuck? She understood Vampiri? And she was calling us out on Alice's treacherous plan?

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	38. Chapter 38 - Hearing About Jasper's Prob

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephanie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 38 – Hearing about Jasper's new problem

(Bella's POV)

My cousins and I listened to Ardella make her deal with Jasper. We waited to hear his reaction to her response after we had translated Alice's whispered remarks to Jasper to Ardella.

When we first contacted Ardella, we had convinced her to leave her room just to go downstairs for a few minutes. It gave me a look at a house I had never been in. We first checked out the kitchen, and then she walked to the patio and looked out. There was a standard sliding glass door, with a lock I could show her how to open if necessary, and a standard fence. I could send someone in from the outside if I needed to. The Quileutes would be able to step in if things started to go wrong.

Since we had contacted her using a direct mind-to-mind connection, we had given her several days to get used to hearing our voices. One of our objectives had been to give her information about her owners. She had lived with them for years without knowing anything about them, as they had only communicated with her using simple Vampiri commands. So we started showing her pictures of Jasper and Alice's human lives, as wells as pictures of both of their immortal existences. We needed her to know what Jasper Whitlock had been through, and what he was capable of doing.

We had found her baby, now two years old, in the Seattle living death camp. Another woman was raising her child. We started talking to Ardella about her baby and told her we had a plan to get her baby back. She was going to have to ask Jasper and Alice for the baby, and we told her we would spend a few days coaching her. Negotiating with Jasper Whitlock, who had been a slave owner in both his human and vampire existences, was going to be a complex transaction. And this girl had not only been a slave all her life, raised to be terrified of vampires, she had also been depressed for two years.

But Ardella came through quite well. The mind reader said she was even beginning to earn Jasper's respect, while Alice was dropping in his estimation. Personally, I was glad to hear that Jasper was annoyed by Alice's suggestion to trick Ardella.

When the situation with Ardella's child had first come up, my cousins had gotten busy. As they first adjusted to their new homes three years ago, Papa and their mates had tried to find them something to occupy their time. They discovered they liked sewing. After a lifetime wearing drab, undyed clothing, in semi-dark rooms, they loved the feel and color of fabric.

And my cousins seemed to have a knack for sewing. Papa would buy them patterns and material from the Internet, having everything sent to a post office box in a small town near their property. The cousins first started making clothes and moved on to making coordinating outfits for one another. They would wear similar dresses each day, varying by color and accessories, but always the same basic pattern. After a while, they started making up their own clothing patterns and also started making curtains and linens for the kitchen and table to match the changing seasons.

And they loved dressing the three children Hope had brought with her.

So, when Ardella's situation came to light, the cousins immediately began making matching Mommy-daughter outfits for Ardella and Amy. They began to fill a trunk with clothes and shoes for the two of them, as well as bath toys and toiletry products. They did a marathon crochet session with the women from the human side of the Coven family as well, so there were blankets and little sweaters to go into the trunk.

They sent two of the boys to Forks in the Cessna with the trunk, timing their arrival for the day Jasper and Alice left to look for the baby at the Seattle HCF.

I told Ardella, using our mental connection, that a delivery was coming, and she would need to open the door. She went to the front door, and I gave her the universal combination override for the type of lock that had been installed on the inside of the door. Thankfully, Jasper had never got around to tinkering with the lock, so our first attempt at overriding the combination worked. She was able to open the door to the house for the first time since she had arrived.

The ally Sean had decided to deliver my cousins' trunk to her; he was a good choice as he had a way with humans. He saw Ardella opening the door carefully, and said, "I believe this package is for you, ma'am," in English to her. She was startled; she had never been addressed in English by a strange vampire before. She opened the door wider to let him bring it inside. We told her to ask him to take it upstairs, as she would never be able to carry that trunk upstairs on her own.

She shyly motioned for him to take it upstairs and then ran ahead to show him which room was hers. So he carried it up to her room and set it in the floor. He handed her his keypad to sign, and we told her to make an "x" on it. She did so carefully, and then Sean bowed and left the house.

We told Ardella how to undo the buckles on the trunk and then open it up. We went through each item of clothing with her as she took it out, and each toy. We told her to take the toiletries, including soap and baby shampoos, into the bathroom.

Once we knew Alice and Jasper had found and purchased Amy, we told her that they were on their way home. She started shaking with emotion, and we warned her that Amy was probably going to be crying, as she had been taken away from the only mother she had known. She should be prepared for the crying, but it would eventually stop as Amy got used to being with her.

Hope suggested she start drawing Amy a bath when Alice and Jasper were about twenty minutes from the house. Giving Amy a bath might help relax her, she told Ardella, and help Amy get to sleep in a strange house. So Ardella carefully laid out the bath items and the clothes that she would put on Amy when she was done, and she then went back downstairs to wait for Jasper and Alice to arrive with her daughter.

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	39. Chapter 39 - Ardella Situation - Amy

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

CHAPTER 39 – The Ardella Situation - The Return of Amy

_Author's note – I have had some requests for clarification regarding the relationship of Carlisle and Bella. Carlisle has long suppressed his vampire side. So when he met Bella in Chicago, he didn't fully understand (or maybe wasn't ready to admit to himself) the true nature of her attraction. Jasper has always been aware of his vampire side and immediately understood what Bella meant to the two of them, and what they had been searching for in their travels together. Carlisle initially hid his feelings for Bella behind his "I'm going to heal her" role that he had played for centuries. He had been growing in awareness of his true feelings, and by the time of Marcus' visit, when Marcus confirmed their bond as mates, he knew what Jasper had known all along._

(Jasper's POV)

Alice and I had gone to the Seattle human containment facility to retrieve Ardella' s baby Amy. The bastards had told us if we wanted to buy the child back, it would cost us $25,000. WTF? They had only given us $5,000 for her as an infant.

The man I was negotiating with nodded when I reminded him of our buying price, and replied, "Yes, but infants at three days do not always live. We incurred expenses just by keeping her in good health. And she's still too young to start drawing her blood, so it's been all cash out with her for us, and no income return on our investment. That's a lot of money, both for doctor's care and for the woman who cared for her. If you want her back it will cost you $25,000."

The insincerity was running off of this smug vampire in waves. So I used my gift to reduce the price to $10,000. We were almost done negotiating, and the vampire was starting to print the sale papers, when the office phone rang. Another vampire came in and asked to see my papers.

This new vampire reviewed my papers, which listed my gift as empath. He introduced himself as manager of the facility and said that one of the mind-readers had been following our negotiation, and had seen me use of my power. The facility would accept $15,000 for the child, and not a penny less.

I was furious, but I paid. I had a gifted human in my house; I was struggling not to let the mind-reader pick up on that as well, so I wanted the negotiation over. If they knew the mother was gifted, they might not be willing to give up the child at all. After all, Aro was supposed to be notified of gifted humans. If anyone turned over a human that Aro found worthy of changing, there was a reward in it for the vampire who found the human. Depending on the nature and usefulness of the human's gift, the reward could be monetary, a loosening of travel restrictions, an invitation to move closer to Volterra, or even a stipend for a century or two.

Once the ownership papers were signed, and we had the transfer and ownership deeds, we were done with this human containment facility. We were handed the now crying child, and a box containing a human child care kit. We started the long drive back to Forks. Alice was sitting next to the child, who was in a car seat, and was pretending to comfort her. She clearly had no idea of how to do this. I ended up sending the child a dose of lethargy, just so we could get to the house while I had some part of my sanity.

When we got to the house, there was the smell of a deliveryman on the front porch. That was in no way unusual, Alice got deliveries all the time. But when I opened the door, it was clear someone had been in the house during the time we were gone. Ardella was standing by the door, so she was all right. I handed her the child and started to investigate the intrusion.

Ardella simply said, "Thank you," when I handed her the baby. She smoothed the child's hair and said, "Amy, it's Mommy, baby."

I eased up with the drowsiness I had sent the child, who immediately started crying. I was surprised how well Ardella handled the crying; it was almost as if she was expecting it. I started to follow the scent trail upstairs and then turned to Ardella.

"Was someone in the house while we were gone?" I asked, hardly thinking that I was addressing a human in a human language.

"Yes," she answered. "A deliveryman arrived with a package for me. I had him take it upstairs."

Alice hissed, "You what? You opened the door?"

I was stunned as well. Once again, Ardella's feeling included a surge of fear and then determination. "A deliveryman arrived with a package for me, so I opened the door and let him in. I had him take it upstairs to my room."

I decided to ask her later how she managed to open the door, which had an electronic key pad on it. She was obviously gifted, but maybe she had simply watched one of us open the door and picked up the combination. If that's what happened, it must have been Alice she had watched, as she hadn't been downstairs in years when I was at home. I ran up the stairs with Ardella following. I got to her room before she did.

But Ardella was right behind me. "I'm going to give Amy a bath to help her relax. Maybe she'll be able to stop crying and get some sleep. I would appreciate it if you would both leave my room, and give us some privacy," she said quietly.

This stunned me, and I turned to give her a glare. But she didn't drop into a submissive posture, as she always had done in the past. She just stood and faced me. I sent her a dose of fear and then the urge to please me, and got no reaction. None. It was as if she didn't feel them.

I had never met an individual immune to my gift.

She was nervous but carefully stepped around me, carrying Amy into the bathroom. "Some privacy, please," she repeated. "I need to get re-acquainted with the daughter you stole from me two years ago."

I let her pass me, in amazement. Alice and I left her room, and I went downstairs and made the call to Eleazar. I needed him down here, to tell me just what I had living under my roof.

A few hours later, we could hear rustling and unfamiliar sounds from the room upstairs. Ardella came downstairs with Amy, carrying a brown bag which reeked of human food. Ardella was dressed in a bright yellow dress, trimmed with matching gingham, and Amy had on a matching dress and hat. Ardella was wearing sandals. The baby had on little sneakers and was holding on to a large stuffed unicorn. Ardella passed us, without comment, and went straight into the kitchen.

Since Alice clearly wasn't going to deal with this situation, I went into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" I asked. "You know we don't allow you in here unescorted."

"I'm making Amy some lunch," she replied, without look at me.

"We have food for both of you," I said, pulling down a bag of the kibble we fed Ardella. "And we were given a care package with instructions on food and bathing for the child."

"She isn't eating that shit; she's going to eat real food," Ardella snapped.

Now insolence I would not tolerate. I turned to her, and once again, although her feelings included fear, she also had determination. Her hands shook, but she placed the bag she was carrying on the table.

"There is an apple in that bag," Ardella said, pointing at the brown bag. "If you want to cut it up for her, that would be useful. Otherwise, give me a knife, and I'll do it."

Startled, I opened the bag to inspect the contents. Inside, there was bread, cheese, and an apple. There was also a container of what appeared to be apple juice.

"Who is sending this to you?" I asked.

"Obviously, someone who cares a lot more about us than you do," Ardella replied firmly. "Don't worry; it appears you won't have to strain your budget to buy us real food. That's being handled by someone else."

This came as a shock. Now she was talking about my finances? And why did I care what a human thought?

Eleazar wouldn't get here quickly enough. So I called Edward. And I suggested he wear his guard uniform when he came over. I knew he hated wearing the uniform in town. Everyone knew he had taken that job at the facility, but prison guards were looked down on. They may have had a higher position in the hierarchy established by Volterra but were generally regarded with suspicion like cops. But since prison guards didn't have the power over other vampires that cops had, they were looked upon with disgust. After all, what kind of vampire would agree to spend their days inside the cages the pathetic humans were kept in?

Edward arrived at my house quite quickly in his shiny silver Volvo. When he arrived, he told me that he couldn't read Ardella's mind. Amy's thoughts were quite standard, though, he reported. When she saw the guard uniform, she had ducked her head. She'd already been trained to fear the vampire guards on the facility. I asked why he hadn't mentioned Ardella's immunity to his gift before, as he had been over to our house any number of times. Alice had served him Ardella's blood often, as he was considered her bachelor brother who needed looking after.

Edward replied that he hadn't given Ardella much thought before. He had picked up what she was thinking, but usually she had just been exsanguinated at the time of his visit, so she was either unconscious or just waking up. She hadn't been thinking much.

In his opinion, this blocking of her thoughts was something new.

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	40. Chapter 40 - Return of Eleazar

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 40 – the Return of Eleazar, and Death to the Cops

(Jasper's POV)

A day passed, and I didn't want to leave the house to return to Carlisle's. I wasn't sure what was going on under my own roof. I kept the baby from crying using my gift and listened to the sounds of Ardella singing and talking to her. They came downstairs the next morning, dressed in matching raincoats, and went outside into the backyard for a few minutes. The child's eyes were slowly adjusting to the light. Some of Amy's crying the day before had been caused by the pain of exposure to stronger light than she was used to, having lived in a facility most of her short life.

Then came the knock on the door I had been both dreading and expecting. A cop was at the house.

I answered the door, while Alice all but hid behind the sofa. Ardella was upstairs in her room with the child.

When I opened the door, the cop stepped inside and said, "Name and papers, please," as if he didn't know who I was.

I gave him my papers, and he made a point of reading them slowly. Finally he looked up and said, "You keep humans? I need their papers as well."

I produced Ardella and Amy's papers from the desk.

He gestured that he wanted to inspect the humans. So I went upstairs, and gave the order to "come" in Vampiri to Ardella. She seemed to realize something was up, so she put Amy down, and started to follow me. I gestured that she was to bring the child. She paused, then squared her shoulders, picked up her daughter, and followed me down the stairs.

Once downstairs, the cop glanced up from his electronic notebook and promptly did a double take at Ardella and Amy's attire. He had been to the house frequently while Ardella had been here; he knew how she was usually dressed. I'm sure he could smell the food they had eaten for lunch as well.

He gestured for Ardella to bring Amy closer. Ardella looked him straight in the eye and didn't move. A smile came to the cop's face at this. I could tell he thought he was going to get to beat up on a non-compliant human. He started to reach out for Amy, slowly, watching Ardella's reaction.

Suddenly his hand stopped, and he put it up to his eyes, rubbing them. His eyes turned white before our gaze, and he dropped to the ground. In less than a minute, he had fallen forward, with his head on his knees. He wasn't moving.

Ardella looked at me and said, "Take that outside and burn it, away from the house. I don't want to expose Amy to any kind of germs or other vermin from his unnatural body."

Alice and I froze and watched as Ardella carried her child back upstairs. Alice sunk her face into her hands once Ardella was out of sight and started rocking. Her fear was coming off of her in waves. After all, look at all the things she had done to Ardella during the years she had lived under our roof. The punishments Alice had doled out for errors and oversights in Ardella's housecleaning may have been exactly what the handlers at the human containment facility had recommended, but they had not been humane.

Ardella's powers seemed to be growing by the hour. Clearly, she was dangerous. Should I just kill her now, or wait until she slept? Eleazar was due later this afternoon; I would see what he thought.

When Eleazar called to say he had arrived at the airport, I went to pick him up.

I outlined the situation quickly. I had not given him details over the phone, as I knew the phone lines were not secure. The cops could be listening at any time.

Eleazar had nodded and said to take him to the house. I knew he didn't approve of blood slaves, but unlike Carlisle, he did visit houses containing human pets. He had been a member of the Volturi guard and traveled extensively, frequently staying with hosts who were either personal friends or Volturi associates. Whether or not he judged me for my choice to keep a human, I didn't know.

When we got to the house, Ardella came downstairs on her own. It was almost as if she was expecting Eleazar. She looked at him shyly and said softly, "This is my daughter, Amy. Mr. Jasper just went and got her back for me from the living death camp. I am deeply grateful to him."

Now we were all shocked. I already knew that she knew my name, from Alice's phone call a few days ago. But that she would use my name when addressing another vampire? And where did she learn this kind of manners?

Eleazar kept his cool, though. He nodded and said, "She is lovely, may I?" holding out his arms. Ardella paused and then passed Amy to him. Eleazar took the child and bounced her a little, looking awkward. I sent a wave of relaxation to Amy, who decided to reach for Eleazar's nose. He smiled when she grabbed it, and Ardella giggled.

I realized this was an excellent strategy on Eleazar's part and wondered why I hadn't thought of it. To make friends with a woman, just make a fuss over her baby. It was so obvious. And there were now so many obstacles placed in front of it by the Rules.

I heard another cop car pull up at the house at that moment. Within a matter of seconds, the rest of the Forks police force was at my door.

I didn't wait for their knock. I just opened the door.

"We're looking for Sargent Krupski," said the first cop. "He isn't answering his radio, and in his last contact with us he said he was checking your house. Is he here?"

"He's outside, by the garage," said Ardella boldly. She's telling the cops where to find his ashes?

The cops looked stunned that she addressed them in human and then quickly moved into the living room to stand on either side of her. She looked at them and said sweetly, "And you may join him, if you wish."

That was all they needed. One of the cops put out a hand towards her, and then they both started clawing at their eyes. Within less than a minute, they were both lying on the floor, not moving. Ardella looked at the two vampires at her feet, and said, "Please take these away, too, and burn them. I don't want the bodies in the house with Amy here. And if your sister Rosalie dares set foot through that door, the same thing will happen to her." Then she turned around and went upstairs.

Eleazar looked at me in shock, and I motioned him to go outside. It was apparent that this was something he had not seen before either.

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	41. Chapter 41 - Back to Carlisle's House

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 41 – Back to Carlisle's house, and Thoughts on Eleazar's Inablility to pick up on certain Human Gifts

(Bella's POV)

My cousins and I had watched as Ardella carefully went through the charade with the cops. We had told her that the instant a cop reached for her or Amy, I would kill them.

But Ardella had made it look like she was the agent of the cops' death, without ever stating that she was. My family was in awe at her nerve. And of course, the cousins were already starting to work on more outfits for the two of them. Now that they had seen how the clothes actually fit, they wanted to make more.

I was interested to see Eleazar's reaction to Ardella. I may have had a high regard for Eleazar simply because he was one of Carlisle's friends, but I knew his power to pick up on human gifts was no longer working particularly well on younger humans. He had missed my gifts completely, and I wasn't the only human whose gifts he hadn't sensed.

The Human Council and I had an ongoing debate about this apparent lapse in his power. Eleazar was failing to pick up on the gifts possessed by humans born after the Event of 2020, those of us who had grown up on the living death camps. We come up with three possible explanations for this diminution in his power.

First, maybe in the past, since humans were unaware of vampires, they hadn't thought to hide their gifts. Now that we were growing up in cages, living in fear of vampire guards, we had gotten better at sheltering ourselves, including our minds and gifts, from the vampires. So Eleazar wasn't sensing the younger humans' gifts because we were not as open with vampires.

Or, a second possibility, maybe Eleazar's power was not a sensing of a gift in and of itself. Maybe what he was really picking up on was an individual's sense that they were different. The emotional and psychic energy used to hide this difference may have left a "scar", and that was what he was sensing. Since socialization was limited to the immediate twenty people we grew up with on the living death camps, the power of the group, as in schools, was not as strong.

Or, a third possibility, perhaps the problem lay in Eleazar's thinking. The mind reader had alerted me to the fact that in his mind, he had called me "Rat Girl" when Carlisle brought me into the house last July. He wasn't the only one who used such terms in their thoughts. The word "rat" was commonly used when referring to the inhabitants of the living death camps, especially those of us who had been born on one. Or, as the vampires thought, bred on them. The Allies told us that vampires had not started using the term "rat" widely when referring to humans until after the Event of 2020. And as Eleazar had spent a lot of time in Volterra, judging gifted humans and judging which gifted vampires should join the Volterra guard, he had picked up this habit of thinking from his constant exposure to the language of the Volturi Court.

But that didn't excuse it. He may be a "vegetarian" vampire, drinking only animal blood, but if he thought of us as "rats", he wasn't a true ally. And it may even be blocking his gift. Possibly just the thought that we were "rats", bred in the living death camp breeding programs, precluded us in his mind from having gifts. And lots of us were coming out of the living death camps with gifts. And he had missed the gifts in many of us.

Whatever it was, this was going to make for an interesting conversation today when Jasper brought him to Carlisle's house.

So, when Jasper and Eleazar appeared at Carlisle's house, I was waiting to see how things would go.

Carlisle was home and greeted his friend Eleazar at the door as usual, with his arm around my waist. The two vampires came in, raindrops still glistening on their hair and clothing. Eleazar greeted Carlisle warmly, but was clearly distracted. Jasper followed Eleazar in and indicated to Carlisle that they wanted to talk to him in his office.

As Carlisle turned to me and began to direct me back into the living room while he escorted his guests to his office, I decided to just jump in to the conversation. "It is nice to see you, Eleazar," I said.

All three vampires paused when I spoke. I usually didn't address Carlisle's guests directly, unless they had spoken to me first. But Eleazar was apparently now open to possibilities, after seeing Ardella at Jasper's house. "Nice to see you, little one," he replied, giving a slight bow.

"What brings you to Forks today?" I asked, filling the awkward pause.

Eleazar looked at me steadily with his dark eyes and replied, "I came to see Jasper."

"Jasper has something of interest to you?" I said sweetly.

At this point, Jasper broke in. "Do you know something?" Jasper demanded.

"That depends. I must ask Eleazar what it is that he saw," I reply. This didn't satisfy Jasper, who began slowly circling me. "So tell me, Lord, what is it that you have seen?"

Eleazar paused and then said, "I went to Jasper's house. There I saw a young woman with a child kill two police officers and threaten to kill Jasper's sister, Rosalie."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting story. Is that everything, or is there more?"

Jasper stopped circling and bent to stare into my eyes, standing inches away. Carlisle was immediately next to him, and asked, "What is going on?"

"That's what I am trying to figure out," I said. "Jasper summoned Eleazar from Alaska. I am curious to know what it was that Eleazar saw at Jasper's house, when he answered Jasper's appeal for help."

Eleazar began to press me for information, asking quietly, "What can you tell me?"

"But I want to know what you observed," I replied. "I heard you say three things: there is a young woman with a child at Jasper's house. She killed two cops. She threatened Jasper's sister. So, it seems to me that there are a few questions. Who is this girl, how and why did she kill the cops, and why does she have a grudge against Jasper's sister?"

The three vampires just exchanged glances. "Sweetheart," Carlisle began gently, "can you tell us what you know?"

"First, I want to know what they know. They are looking for information, yet not sharing," I reply. "Who is this girl? Why is she at Jasper's house? If she's a visitor, then maybe she should just move along."

Jasper glared at me, at then said, "I think it is obvious who she is."

"I want to hear somebody say it," I answered.

"The girl is my pet, and the child is her baby," Jasper stated evenly, staring at me.

"And she has never shown any inclinations of this kind before?" I asked. "The cops never took an interest in the child before? Let's set aside the issue of the dead cops for now and look at what is going on."

Esme had come into the living room from her office and was watching us with interest. I didn't care. Let Jasper own up to his situation. It was of his making, when he decided to buy a human.

"I don't know what is going on," Jasper said coolly. "That's why I called Eleazar. And as for Rosalie…"

"If this girl is your pet," I interject, "then you have controlled every aspect of her existence from the time you purchased her, correct? You know about her diet, you know about her movements as you control whether she leaves your house, and you certainly know everything about her relationships. How long has she been at your house?"

"Alice and I bought her 3 years ago," Jasper replied.

"So she got pregnant while under your roof?" I asked. I knew that the Rules required that all human girls be "bred" at the age of sixteen. By the usual timeline, Jasper and Alice would have been required to get Ardella pregnant at that age.

"Yes," Jasper stated calmly.

"And the baby?" I asked.

"We took the baby back to the Seattle Human Confinement Facility to be raised after she was born," Jasper answered.

"Who was the father?" I pressed, beginning to be impatient with the slow pace of the conversation. 

"He was Emmett's pet," stated Jasper carefully.

"Oh, so there is a connection to Rosalie," I stated. "If Ardella is harboring this level of animosity, why not towards you and Alice? Why is she angry at Rosalie? She doesn't live with Rosalie."

"I don't know," Jasper replied.

"Don't you? Then maybe I don't know anything either," I answered, becoming sick of the short, evasive answers I was getting.

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Yea, Bella's being stubborn. Of course she knows all about this situation. But Jasper has to admit his complicity in this situation, he has to state it.


	42. Chapter 42 - Continuing a Difficult Talk

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 42 – continuing a difficult conversation

Mid-December, 2039; around day 7105

(Bella's POV)

Author's note – Bella only uses a vampire's name when addressing them, or in conversation, if given permission by the vampire. When she doesn't have that permission, she calls the vampire "the vampire knows as xx when human". Rosalie never gave Bella permission to call her by name. This is a courtesy Bella extends which goes beyond the recent human 'Manners Training', because she learned from Crazy and Isaiah that vampires have always been uneasy about being called by their name by humans.

Also, note that Bella herself has still not told the Cullens or other vampires her birth name of Bella. She still goes by the Colony tradition of using numbers and tells them to call her '99'. She will not give vampires the right to call her the name her mother gave her, reserving that name for when she sees her mother again.

Conversation from the end of Chapter 41, with Jasper, Eleazar, and Carlisle:

"_Who was the father?" I pressed, beginning to be impatient with the slow pace of the conversation.  
><em> 

"_He was Emmett's pet," stated Jasper carefully._

"_Oh, so there is a connection to Rosalie," I stated. "If Ardella is harboring this level of animosity, why not towards you and Alice? Why is she angry at Rosalie? She doesn't live with Rosalie."_

"_I don't know," Jasper replied._

"_Don't you? Then maybe I don't know anything either," I answered, becoming sick of the short, evasive answers I was getting._

At this point Eleazar decided to say something. "Jasper called me and said the human living in his house had gifts that he wanted me to review for him."

"And what did you sense?" I asked

"I sense nothing unusual about this girl or her child," Eleazar stated evenly.

"So your sense for a gift does not pick up on moral courage, I take it," I commented. "It doesn't sense what it would take for a young woman raised in the constant presence of vampires, taught to fear them all her life, would allow her to stand up to one such as Major Jasper Whitlock?"

"No, I do not get any readings from her," replied Eleazar evenly. "My gift is to sense the presence of the gifts in others, human or vampire…"

"All right, your gift is to sense whatever is useful to Aro," I say, interrupting Eleazar by putting up a hand. I turned to Jasper. "Then the first comment I will make is that the executions were carried out by the Resistance. So if you are thinking of harming Ardella or her child to save yourselves or Rosalie, that won't work. But now, there are no more cops in Forks, as the Chief of Police was executed in his office shortly after the other two cops called him that they going to your house to find out why Officer Krupski wasn't answering his radio."

Jasper's eyes widened slightly, and Esme gasped. Carlisle kept his cool, even gaze on me and put one hand on my shoulder. Whether he was protecting me, or restraining me, I couldn't tell.

"So, now you, Alice, Emmett and Rosalie have an interesting opportunity to show your true character," I said calmly to Jasper. "None of you have to follow the Rules in regards to the humans you have in your custody, since there are no more cops to enforce the Rules. You could even be civil and speak to them."

"How did the cops die?" insisted Jasper.

"We used a resistance weapon on them," I stated. "What you saw was the new weapon of the Resistance, the one delivered to us by Aro himself. Without Aro's administration of both the vampire and enslaved human worlds, it would simply not have been possible. Twenty years ago the entire human race was enslaved and almost exterminated, without being able to defend ourselves. But we have had twenty years to study you. This weapon is a result of our research and efforts, and it is how the Volturi guard members were executed, including Demitri and Felix, Renata and Chelsea, and finally Jane and Alec. Obviously, a Resistance member does not need to be present in order to use it. As for what it is, or how it works, that is a Resistance strategy I cannot discuss. At the time of the Insurgency, it will be explained."

"But, as for Ardella, why do you think she is upset with your sister, the vampress known when human as Rosalie Hale?" I asked. "I can tell you that if the vampress enters your house, and Ardella feels threatened, the resistance will execute the vampress."

There is a pause, as all of the vampires present seem to consider this last statement.

"The baby's father was Rosalie's human," Jasper finally replied.

"And how is he now? Pleased about the little girl?" I asked.

"He is dead; he died shortly after Ardella became pregnant," answered Jasper.

"How did that happen?" I asked. "I assume he was a young guy, Rosalie wouldn't have bought an older human. Their blood isn't as appealing to you."

"I never heard the details," replied Jasper evenly.

"And obviously, you weren't at all curious about them either," I snapped. "Well, I did hear the details. The vampress known as Rosalie Hale when human beat Clyde, the boy's name, to death when he asked her for more food."

Esme gasped, and Carlisle pursed his lips. Jasper stayed cool and kept his position in the chair he had taken across from me.

Jasper leaned forward slightly, paused, and said "I never heard that."

"That's what happened," I replied, forcing myself to stay calm. Rosalie had obviously never told anyone the truth about what happened to her blood slave. "Clyde's last words were almost something out of Dickens' Oliver Twist. He was in the kitchen with the vampress who when human was known as Rosalie Hale, and said, 'Please, Miss. I'm still hungry. May I have some more food?' And the vampress responded by beating him to death. But you don't have to take my word for it. After the vampress realized she had killed Clyde, she took his body to the Seattle Human Containment Facility for disposal and asked them for two 'sturdier' males. The facility mind reader had been ogling her when she arrived and read her mind. He actually made a note in the file about what happened. As a result, the two new humans she bought, Roger and Harry, were warned by the handler not to ask the pretty lady for more food."

Esme got up from her chair and stood behind it, grabbing the chair's arms so tight sawdust began to appear between her fingers. She suddenly seemed to realize what she was doing and released the arm. She walked quietly into the kitchen.

"So Ardella has a reason, actually several, to hate the vampress known when human as Rosalie Hale," I continued. "She could be angry at losing the only one who had spoken a human language to her in the three years since she left the Human Containment Facility; she could be angry at losing her lover; or she could be worried that the vampress might kill her child just as she killed the father. Whatever the reason, if Rosalie sets foot in your house, it sounds as though Ardella will signal the Resistance to execute her. I would keep you sister out of your house."

Jasper looked as if he were considering things for a minute and then said, "I'll give Ardella her freedom."

"No," I answered. "That's too easy for you. You bought her. You got her pregnant by Clyde. And now you are actually going to take responsibility and raise that child. You are going to face what you did, because when you took custody of that girl, you signed a contract that you would take care of her. Now you're going to do exactly that. It may not be the care you had planned to give her, as she's had that kind of 'care' for the past three years, and it has left her in a near catatonic state in one of the bedrooms of your house. But starting today you will begin to take proper care of Ardella and that little girl."

Jasper considered for a moment, and then asked, "Who is giving her the presents?"

"Someone who cares about her comfort and nutrition levels a damn sight more than you have, obviously," I snapped, crossing my arms.

Eleazar excused himself to hunt, obviously sensing a family quarrel on the horizon. Esme came downstairs when she heard him leave and sat down on the sofa next to Carlisle.

I was left in the living room with Carlisle, Jasper and Esme. I exhaled, and leaned back on the sofa. "Who the hell did you think I sent into your house to help me with Ardella?" I said softly. "The Gambino crime family? It's my family. My cousins started sewing those clothes and packing those trunks as soon as they heard about Ardella and learned that her baby was in the Seattle living death camp."

Jasper sighed and put his head in his hands.

"My cousins and I have never needed to be in the same room, or even the same city, to communicate," I continued. "Our gift is yet another gift that Eleazar has not sensed. Another coven found and freed my cousins from the living death camps they had been living on since they were born. They've lived under this coven master's protection since shortly after I found my own way to freedom."

"You have family, dear?" asked Esme, reaching out to put her hand on my knee.

"Of course, this leads to a different problem," I remarked resignedly. Carlisle raised an eyebrow.

"They want to come for a visit," I said, addressing Carlisle. "My cousins want to come down here."

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_We are getting very close to the Insurgency. Been a long time since July…_


	43. Chapter 43 - Arrival of the Cousins

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 43 – The Arrival of the Cousins

December 22, 2039; Day 7114

(Bella's POV)

At the same time that Jasper started treating Ardella better, my daily reports from the allies on the lives of the other humans living in Forks showed their living conditions were improving as well. The vampires didn't seem to know how to behave without cops around to enforce the Rules. They were skittish, not understanding what happened. Sometimes I wondered just how much human is left in some of these beings.

It was obvious rumors had started to fly around the cause of the cops' death, and the local vampires were beginning to fear for their own safety. Most believe that Jasper had killed the cops who came to his house, but that didn't account for the Chief of Police, since they knew Jasper hadn't been to that end of Forks that day. The other vampires couldn't leave town without travel vouchers signed by the Chief of Police, so they were all forced to remain local, or risk going into the wilderness.

Emmett had always been well liked around town, and when he started talking about better treatment for humans at the bar he worked at, the local vampire population listened. He generally suggested better food for the humans and told people he was relieved to be able to talk in human to his own human pets. Now that his two guys were companions, he said, it made watching the games on TV more fun, he said. The other human pet owners seemed to be following his lead and were treating their humans more – well, human.

But the cousins were getting more and more interested in making the trip down to Forks for a visit. Now that the Cullens knew they are involved, they openly sent their care packages for Ardella and Amy to Carlisle's, asking that Esme look at the packages before they were forwarded to Jasper's house.

The cousins wanted Esme to go see Ardella's baby Amy, but she continued to refuse to go to Jasper's house as long as he had a blood slave. The cousins kept trying to get her to go anyway, sending her messages asking how the clothes fit Amy. Esme wasn't taking the bait. Good luck with that, I thought.

Life did not return to its usual routine at the Cullen house any more. Jasper was spending more time at his own house, all of the Cullen family members who owned a human did. Emmett seemed to have made the adjustment to living with his humans without the guidelines of the Rules the most easily. Once he got over the idea of not being able to use "code" at home, he started talking to his two guys. He wasn't happy to hear that Rosalie killed Clyde, but he seemed to have always suspected it.

The biggest surprise came the next time Rosalie came to the house. After she arrived, and settled into her usual chair by the window, Esme walked in to the living room. Esme asked Rosalie, "Is it true? Did you beat the boy to death when he asked for more food?"

Rosalie tried to not answer, but Esme said, "I was hoping not to believe it. But now, I don't know you anymore. You were always vain and self-centered, I tried to overlook that. But buying, then killing a human, and now you won't admit it…I don't know you. In the future, when you want to come to this house, I need to be given warning as I will not be here during your visit. I can't be under the same roof with you. I'm going out to hunt. When I come back, I want all your things from your old room out of this house. I don't want any reminders that I ever knew you anywhere near where I live."

Then Esme left.

Emmett and Rosalie exchanged glances, and then Rosalie pursed her lips, and started up the stairs.

"Babe…" said Emmett, then he followed her. They flashed up and down the stairs, carrying armloads of items to Emmett's Jeep, and were gone. Carlisle and Jasper exchanged a glance after they left. Jasper had offered to help, but Rosalie had shrugged off his offer, so he had stayed downstairs with me.

Esme returned near morning of the next day, looking fed but determined.

Not long after she returned, a car pulled up. I hadn't been in touch with the cousins that morning, dealing with my local melodrama. I should have been suspicious of the silence on their end.

A knock came at the door, and a tired Carlisle went to answer it.

Suddenly I heard, "We're here!", and in sailed Celeste, followed by Hope and Hope's youngest son, Ron. They were escorted by Byron, one of the Home coven vampires. I looked at Byron and said "Cessna?" He shrugged, and then I was engulfed in a hug from Celeste, the youngest of the cousins. She and Hope had on their usual complementing outfits: Celeste had dressed in bright yellow, and Hope in light blue. Hope's two year old son Ron was wearing a sailor suit.

Hope looked at me and shrugged. "Celeste wouldn't wait any longer to come see you. And when I saw Byron was really going to bring her here today, I picked up Ron, and said I was coming, too."

I couldn't restrain my emotions. I started crying like a baby, much as I hated to. Despite having spent three years talking daily and seeing one another through our shared mental connection, I had never actually met my cousins in person.

Hope and I didn't even try to speak, after "Hello." It was unnecessary – we knew how the other felt. She had been my rock up there, wherever it was that the Home coven existed. Celeste started babbly immediately; I wasn't sure whether I could get a word in edgewise. I wasn't sure I wanted to. Just listening to her in person was an amazing experience. I did remind her, mentally, that the Cullens still only knew me as '99'. I had never told them my birth name, the name my mother gave me. Celeste rolled her eyes at my reminder and sent me a mental 'Do you think I'm stupid?' silent message, never stopping her ceaseless chatter.

While she continued to carry on, I turned briefly to Byron, the coven member who had brought them to Forks.

"How long will it be before the others arrive, and who's coming after you guys?" I asked Byron.

"It will be Papa, and he'll have at least Rodrigo and Luther with him," he muttered.

We went outside on the patio. Celeste exclaimed over every detail of first the house and then the patio. Hope carried the little Ron, who was more interested in Carlisle's hair than the house. Esme came downstairs from her office and followed the three visitors out to the patio. Esme was remarking to Carlisle on our resemblance to one another, and of course, making a grab for two-year old Ron.

Finally, after Esme managed to capture the baby from Hope and was holding him in her lap, Carlisle turned to me and asked the question he and Esme had been discussing. "How is this possible? Are you sisters? You three could be identical triplets, just at different ages."

I smiled. "Everyone notices. We were all born on different death camps, to different parents. Yet we all look identical, as if we are the same person at different ages. Furthermore, two of us died before the seven of us even met. So originally, we were nine. One cousin was sold to a brothel when she turned sixteen, a second died in childbirth having the child she was forced to conceive when she turned sixteen. Hope survived two live births."

Carlisle leaned back in his chair, stroking his jaw while considering us. I didn't need the mind-reader to tell me what he was thinking. We appeared to be one person, born three different times. I had never thought it was luck that the other six girls, my apparent other selves, were found by a coven that was born from a family with long ties to the immortal world. My cousins didn't puzzle them upon their arrival. The Home coven's human family understood and welcomed my cousins immediately. Why I became the fighter, traveling the world, only to end up with Carlisle and Jasper was the real question, as far as I was concerned.

I let Celeste's chatter wash over me, as the other four cousins from Home finally checked in with me, apologizing for not giving me a warning about my impending visitors. It was nice to have the two cousins here, sitting on Carlisle's patio with me. It was nice to see Esme holding and playing with a young child. It was even nice to see Carlisle studying someone other than me, trying to work out the mystery in his mind.

Soon Jasper returned from his house, as Carlisle had obviously called him. After Rodrigo's first visit, the two of them wanted to have all the males present when the Home coven showed up. Emmett wouldn't be far behind. He stopped short when he saw the two girls. He was close to being overwhelmed by our combined scent, to say nothing of our remarkable resemblance. I let him recover himself for a few seconds before I started making introductions. He and Carlisle exchanged glances, and he made a quick phone call before coming onto the patio. I figured he was calling Emmett and telling him to get over here now, as in right now.

Introductions were made, and Hope started commenting via our mental connection about how Jasper looked even more gorgeous in person. Celeste began giggling at this, but pretended she was laughing at the little Ron. I had to admit, he did look good in that black t-shirt and jeans.

An hour later, I felt the presence of five more vampires in a v formation. That would be the Home Coven Recovery Team, as I was starting to call them.

Papa came around the corner of the house and onto the patio, flanked by Luther and Rodrigo, and two other boys.

When Papa saw who was on the patio, he put out a hand, signaling the rest of his coven to stop, and then he moved closer. He nodded to Carlisle and gestured to Celeste and Hope. Both girls moved forward towards him. He reached out and took their hands, looking into their eyes, and then smiled. He passed them to Luther and Rodrigo.

Now Papa looked at me. "Hello, little one," he said softly.

I nodded and kept my eyes down. I was deeply grateful to this coven master for taking in my family and taking such good care of them. He looked up at Carlisle and Jasper, who had quickly moved closer to me, flanking me protectively. Then Papa looked at Esme, who was standing behind me, still holding Hope's son.

We could all feel the electricity between Papa and Esme, and it seemed that time almost stopped as they gazed at one another. Finally Papa shook his head, looking away from Esme and back at me. He took a deep breath and then stood up and addressed Carlisle. "Carlisle Cullen?" he said, "I am Papa. These are five of my boys. I see you met Byron before I arrived and believe you have met Rodrigo on a prior visit."

Carlisle smiled, and said, "You are welcome." Jasper didn't look quite so sure, and put one hand on my shoulder.

"It was about time we met," Papa said to Carlisle. "You little guest is attracting my family on a regular basis. I think I might as well put a Cessna landing strip in your back yard."

Carlisle nodded. "She has been rather popular with our friends as well." Esme had set Ron down and backed into the house while Carlisle and Papa spoke.

Celeste looked up from her seat on Luther's thigh and reached out for Ron. Luther had crouched, holding her on one knee and engulfing her in his arms. Ron was more interested in playing soldier with a stick Esme had found for him than going to Celeste. Rodrigo was standing, holding Hope on his hip. Neither of the vampires were releasing the girls from their protective grips, but the tension had lessened.

The first meeting between the Home and Cullen covens that involved my human family, though unexpected, had gone smoothly. Leah's impromptu visits had been short, but laid the groundwork for a developing relationship between the two covens. The obvious attraction between Papa and Esme had been totally unexpected, but would tie the two covens very closely.

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Next chapter – Aro's quarterly "State of My Empire" speech – and Bella's recall to active duty as a Freedom Fighter.


	44. Chapter 44 - Small Issue of Food Quality

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 44 – a small issue of food quality, and a surprise on Aro's quarterly newscast

December 23rd and 24th, 2039; days 7115 and 7116

As evening fell, everyone from both the Home and Cullen covens moved from the patio to the living room, while Esme continued to hover behind Carlisle. Carlisle was watching Esme and Papa with a smile, but he wasn't saying anything yet. Emmett lit a fire in the fireplace and chairs were moved so that we could all sit around the blazing fire. Carlisle had just received a week's shipment of food for me, so Esme made dinner for all of four of us. Celeste, Hope and I had lasagna, while Hope's two year old son Ron had a grilled cheese sandwich and some fruit.

Eleazar came back from his hunt and was astonished to see the new visitors. I could tell he started picking up on Papa's boys' gifts immediately. I began to wonder what he saw. Fighter, fighter, fighter…at a time when the Volturi's primary fighters were gone, he was seeing these strong new fighters, from an unknown coven.

Eventually everybody human went to bed. Esme put Hope and her son Ron in Rosalie's old room, and Celeste insisted on sleeping with me. That meant two humans in my small bedroom. But Celeste was not to be denied. I eventually fell asleep with Celeste cuddled up against me, snoring delicately.

The mind-reader awakened me in the middle of the night with an urgent message from the allies.

Before I had made the trip to Chicago, where I met Carlisle in June, I had been working with the allies on a project where they were making improved food to sell to the captive humans. The humans existing on the living death camps had a terrible diet, existing on small amounts of dried bread and small handfuls of meat. The humans who lived as blood slaves were fed a pellet type food. It was sold under various names and had varying nutritional contents.

One tactic the allies were using to improve the lives of humans, prior to the Insurgency, was to make a better quality food, and then cut its price below the price of the standard foods being marketed, in order to get a more nutritious diet to the enslaved people.

As part of their research, the allies were analyzing the nutritional content of the various commercial brands.

The reason for the urgent call tonight was that at one of the labs, they had used a more sophisticated scanning technique to analyze the proteins. They discovered human DNA in all of the samples being tested.

They had re-tested the samples and confirmed the presence of human DNA in all of the brands being marketed. The level of human DNA varied by brand, ranging from 20% to 80% of the protein contained in the samples. They had run confirming tests in three separate laboratories before contacting me.

I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to comprehend this news, with a sleepy Celeste grumbling beside me at being awakened at such an hour. I shushed her, and she quickly fell back to sleep, then I got up and walked downstairs. Carlisle had been sitting in his office reading, since Celeste was in the room with me, and now he followed me down the stairs.

When I reached the living room, I looked between Papa, Carlisle, and Edward. I wanted to ask Edward what he knew, since he worked at a living death camp, but I held my tongue. The mind-reader was searching Edward's memories and reported that he knew nothing of the disposal of human bodies.

Finally, I spoke. "Edward, I need to ask you a favor. I need you to go to your employer and ask him how he disposes of the human bodies. Please read his mind directly after posing your question and also ask any of the supervisors you meet while you are there today the same question. Don't worry about acting disrespectful, because, believe me, it won't matter. Just get an answer and get back here in six hours."

Edward looked at me seriously, then nodded and left.

I turned to Carlisle after Edward left. "Do you have access to laboratory equipment that can run DNA tests?" When Carlisle nodded, I continued, "I need to run some tests on some samples. Can you take me to this lab?" Papa said he would send Luther with us for security. Papa knew I didn't need any security; this was more for Carlisle's sake.

I went back upstairs to my room and got dressed. Tonight I put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that I had stuffed in the back of my closet instead of the usual velvet dress and tights that Carlisle preferred. Carlisle watched but didn't argue. He had picked out my clothes since I arrived in July, but tonight I needed something else to wear.

Soon an ally arrived at the house with three unopened bags representing the three brands of food sold at Miniver's market for our test. These brands would be the food Jasper and Emmett were feeding to their humans. The possibility of finding traces of human DNA in these bags was making me sick.

Carlisle drove Luther and me to the hospital in his Mercedes. When we got there, Carlisle carried me from his car to the lobby of the small hospital, the electronic doors opening quietly as we approached the front of the building. He and Luther walked past the potted plants that stood on either side of the doors, and past the bulletin boards, still covered with the announcements for the employee picnic on the 4th of July weekend from 2020. No one had ever taken them down. There were no cops in the lobby, but a vampire was manning the front desk nervously. Since humans were treated at the hospital, the hospital had security measures in place prevent any escapes. Considering what had just happened to the Forks cops, this rent-a-cop stand-in looked nervous playing security guard.

Carlisle signed us all in at the front desk and then carried me through the sterile, silent hospital halls to the third floor. He unlocked an office for us to use and then brought the clean room suits and equipment needed to prepare samples. I told him I needed to prepare the samples myself.

"Dear, I can help. Will you tell me what you are looking for?" he asked.

"I want your expertise in reading the results. I don't want you prejudiced by seeing the samples," I answered. I could sense his frustration, but this charge was serious and the validation of the charges needed to be provided by humans. We could not rely on vampire allies, who were, after all, still vampires, giving us the information we would base the main attack of the Insurgency on.

After the samples spent the allotted time in the analyzing equipment, the results were printed. The reports showed that all of the samples contained human DNA. This meant that all three of the brands being sold at Miniver's contained anywhere from 30-60% human DNA. We were being fed our own dead.

Carlisle was distraught and enraged, as he confirmed my results.

I shared his feelings. As much as we knew about vampires, how could we not have caught this before? We never really asked what happened to the bodies of our dead. We knew they weren't being given proper burials, but thought the bodies were buried in some kind of mass graves or were being incinerated. Initially they had been incinerated, starting in July, 2020, as vampires found the stench of decaying human corpses left behind after the Event offensive. At some point though, someone thought of a more economic use for the human dead.

I was sickened. I was trying to block my thoughts from my cousins, but it was hard. I couldn't go back to Carlisle's house just then, with the two of them there. Carlisle drove me to Edward's house and let us all in.

The mind-reader told me that Edward had picked up on the fact that his facility had recently begun sending the bodies of the humans who had died to the food manufacturers.

No one over the age of 39 was kept at any of the facilities. The women over 39 years of age were occasionally sold to wealthy vampires, to be kept as servants in large houses, to do cleaning, polishing, laundry and other chores that the younger, more attractive "pets" used as blood sources were too inexperienced to handle. The older men, on the other hand, were generally sold to the local vampires, who would turn them loose in a forested area for a hunt. Any human who was 39 today would have been around twenty years old at the time of the Event. They would have had enough experience of the natural world prior to their incarceration in 2020 to recognize a forest and try to flee into it, even if they suspected what was coming. That made them good sport for vampires.

People who had been born on the living death camps, on the other hand, were initially so overwhelmed at the natural world after having spent their entire lives in the manufactured cinderblock worlds that they weren't considered sport. Their eyes would have trouble adjusting to natural light, and since they wouldn't have seen any natural objects, such as trees or grass, before, they were overwhelmed at the sight.

But if the camps couldn't find buyers for the humans turning 40, they would just kill them, now that there was a market for the bodies. The bodies of the girls who didn't survive childbirth were also turned over to the food factories. But the biggest suppliers of human bodies had been the brothels, as the sixteen year old human girls generally only survived 4-6 weeks of sex work.

There were only a limited number of food manufacturers. All of the manufacturers' food products had been tested by our labs, and all contained human DNA. The allies were waiting. I told them I wanted to know which Human Containment Facilities had been supplying the bodies, and who else was supplying the bodies to the food manufacturers.

The Resistance was going to launch an operation against the manufacturers, and all their owners and suppliers, at midnight. All of the food would be removed from all stores, facilities, and shipments as well as storehouses. Any bodies not processed would be removed for proper burial. The allies would replace the food at the facilities with better quality food, including beans, fruit, and vegetables.

I asked my mind-reader, who had been a Buddhist monk while human, to help come up with a ritual cleansing for the humans who had unknowingly consumed their own, and a ritual to perform over the food that contained human remains. He agreed. He also suggested consulting Carlisle for assistance, since he had been a preacher when he was human. I decided I would do that after I got done with Aro.

I finally went back to Carlisle's house around noon, after an exhausting night spent first running the tests and then waiting for the results. Papa had sent for six more of his boys to serve as additional security for Carlisle's house, and the allies had moved from Forks to the house as well. The allies felt there was no reason to hide their presence from the Cullens anymore. They still kept their UPS or other delivery uniforms on hand in case they needed to go into a city, but were now wearing their regular clothes.

December 24th was also the night of Aro's quarterly newscast. Celeste and Hope sat on the sofa with me while we waited for it to air. The human council had been notified of my confirmation of the allies' findings. I told the Council I planned to destroy all vampires involved in or profiting from this atrocity involving the captive human's food supply, and the Council had agreed with my course of action.

Aro came on TV at his usual time, for his "State of My Empire" speech. He always took a few questions, usually carefully rehearsed. But we had time to get an ally into his press room, someone prepared to pose an unrehearsed question.

After Aro delivered his prepared remarks, the time for questions was announced. When it was the ally's turn, he asked, "Were you aware that human bodies were being used to prepare the human food?"

Aro blinked in surprise at an unrehearsed question, then gave his trademark smile, and said, "But it has always been this way. Cattle and chicken feed contained the carcasses of cows and chickens, so why shouldn't human food contain human remains?"

When Aro gave this response, Celeste started crying; Hope just looked at me and squeezed my hand. My order to stand down had been revoked. It was time. One of my roles during the Insurgency was the execution of Aro Voturi. The allies had hacked into the TV system, and the President of the Human Council's voice came over the air. He had a short statement prepared, as he expected to be cut off quickly. "Aro Volturi, for your crimes against humanity, the Human Council in Exile has sentenced you to death. The execution is to be carried…" his voice was cut off.

Aro lifted an eyebrow, still on camera and smiled. "Well, it seems…"he began.

Then he lifted his hand to one of his eyes and began to rub it. Both eyes glazed over white and within a few more seconds he fell forward. His death came within a minute, and he was left lying face down on the news desk, face tilted to one side. His guards tried to cut off the TV cameras, but our cameras continued to broadcast the image. Aro's death was carried over the news media to the entire vampire world. The doors were locked to the broadcasting room, and the hidden cameras installed two years earlier by the allies for just this purpose remained on. The picture of Aro's body stayed on the screen and was sent out over an emergency broadcast channel for the entire world to see.

In that moment, it had begun. The Insurgency was now in progress.

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	45. Chapter 45 - The Return of Marcus

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 45 – the return of Marcus and the opening of the brothels

December 25th, 2039

(Bella's POV)

I organized the allies for the midnight attack on the food manufacturers. They fanned out and divided the plants between them. At midnight, I would use my gift kill the staff at each plant and any owners not present at the time. One hour later, the allies were to arrive and remove any human bodies plus any feed already manufactured. The plants were to be photographed and records removed, then the plants were to be destroyed using C-4 explosives. We wanted the sites cleansed by fire; we would consecrate them later, in memory of our human dead.

Another set of allies was poised to deliver alternative food to the living death camps, and to the stores. All food at the stores would be removed. This process would take a few days, as there weren't enough allies to handle the job of replacing the food at all stores at the same time.

The vampire world was unsettled by the televised death of Aro. The explosions at the plants didn't trouble them as much, since they didn't understand what was going on. But after Aro's televised execution, we felt they would be ready to believe that the Resistance had the ability to kill any vampire, anywhere, at any time. The Human Council was in the process of deciding how to communicate this news without causing utter anarchy. We were worried about setting off a killing frenzy by the vampires, who might start killing the captive humans at will, feeling it didn't matter if they could themselves die at any moment. The council did decide to keep the fact that it was only humans with tainted blood who could perform these executions a secret. They didn't want the vampires looking for me.

At the time the human council had confirmed my ability to kill any vampire who had drank my blood, there was much discussion over what to do with this ability. The human world now had the ability to eliminate almost every vampire currently in existence at any given moment.

There were obviously both human council members and freedom fighters who wanted to take this route to the Insurgency. But we chose not to do this immediately. There were three reasons.

First, if we killed all vampires simultaneously, we would kill many of the allies. Without the allies, we would have very limited chances at survival during the years prior to 2037, when my ability was discovered. The allies had sheltered us, helped us build up food stocks, transported us to safety as well as between cities, and provided safety and security in the wilderness. The vampire doctors were almost our exclusive source for medicine, and the allies had done this all of this at great personal risk to themselves. Many had been tracked down by the cops or Demitri when their activities were suspected and were killed, before we learned how to protect them.

Second, if we killed all vampires except the allies, there was just no way to get to all of the humans in custody to safety. So many people were behind locked doors throughout the cities spread across the globe that the allies could never have gotten to them all in time. We risked losing hundreds of humans to painful, lonely deaths of starvation.

But the third and main reason was that we planned to re-introduce the human justice system. We wanted to give the surviving humans closure and also show the difference between ourselves and our oppressors. We were going to put all surviving vampires on trial. The surviving humans could bring charges, and we had testimony to provide trials for the humans who had died. We would not simply kill the vampires, as they had killed most of the human population in 2020. There was a difference between the humans and supposedly superior immortals.

The human council had kept laying down rules to prevent us from killing vampires slowly or painfully while fighting. That was in part due to the possibility of an immortal opponent breaking free and retaliating during an extended death, but also so that there wouldn't be psychic or moral damage done to the fighters. The fighters were to have peaceful places in the new world of humans.

I was waiting for the Human Council to outline the plan for the release of the human race from vampire custody. They were devising plans to obtain release from the brothels, from the living death camps, and from the individual homes. We needed to get the brothel girls out first. Their wounds would overwhelm our meager medical facilities, but it was better they die in our hands, while we were trying to help them, than to continue in their torment.

After the midnight attack on the plants, I went to my room to try to get a few hours' sleep. But about two hours after I lay down, the mind-reader woke me up. Marcus was on his way to Forks; he wanted to see Eleazar before returning to Volterra.

I contacted the Human Council. I needed to know what to do. Papa had never registered his coven, and now not only had Eleazar seen them, in a few minutes Marcus Volturi himself would be walking through Carlisle's front door.

They told me I should act to save Papa's coven from disclosure. His disciplined band of boys contained the top fighters in the vampire world.

I got Carlisle to relight the fire in the main room and snuggled in to one of the pillows in front of it. "Marcus is on his way," I told Carlisle and Papa. Papa glanced at Luther, and the boys assumed positions around the room, looking casual, but covering strategic points.

Jasper had run back home to Forks to check on Ardella and Amy. He had switched to the food service that Carlisle used and was getting home deliveries, openly bypassing Miniver's store. Carlisle now called him, requesting him to return urgently.

Soon Marcus and his small entourage were on the front porch.

Carlisle welcomed Marcus at the door. They exchanged pleasantries too low for me to understand, and then Marcus came into the room. It took him a moment to adjust to the scent. His eyes went black as his nostrils quivered. He was visibly steadying himself, and then he smiled, and opened his eyes calmly. My cousins' scents was just as strong as mine, and there were three of us in the house. As he looked around the room, he stopped at the sight of Papa. He was clearly viewing the room using his gift, which was to recognize relationships. In Papa, Marcus was seeing a strong, unknown vampire, with deeply forged ties to the others in the room and to me.

Marcus recovered himself quickly, but he walked carefully into the center of the room. He pulled a chair over by me and seated himself in front of the fire. Rodrigo started a growl, but Papa shushed him.

Marcus listened to the heartbeats he could hear from the rooms above and then turned to Carlisle. "I see you have other guests."

Carlisle nodded and began to introduce Papa. Once he introduced Papa to Marcus, Papa cut Carlisle off in order to conduct the introductions himself. "I am Papa, and these are my sons."

Marcus' eyes moved between the individuals in the room and then looked at Eleazar. "Hello, friend, I didn't want to return home without saying farewell. I am obviously cutting my visit short due to the events in Volterra."

Eleazar nodded, and Esme peered around the corner. Marcus looked at Esme, then followed an invisible line over to Papa, and smiled. "I see we will be friends; our ties will run deep, my friend."

Papa nodded but stayed reserved. Esme slowly walked over to Papa, for the first time. Papa pushed her behind him, protectively.

Marcus smiled. "Please, I have not had the honor of your acquaintance, I would like to know you better," he said to Papa.

Papa stood firmly. "I do not count those who destroyed the human world among my friends," he stated simply.

Marcus sat in silence for a moment, looking down. "My brothers went too far, it is time to rein them in. It would appear the Aro has paid the price for his arrogance. But I don't know how to begin to undo the damage," he said softly.

I glanced up, catching Papa's eye, and he nodded.

"I want you to free the brothels tonight," I said. I was surprised that my voice sounded uneven. I took a breath to gain some control.

Marcus looked at me steadily, as I continued. "I want you to free the brothels, to order them closed. I want all the brothel workers, the girls enslaved within them, sent to freedom. And the brothels will not be re-opened, nor will the living death camps plundered for more human sex workers."

"And that means all the brothels, including the girls being held in Volterra," I stated firmly. "They are all to be freed. I want this accomplished by noon tomorrow. At noon, we will expect to have the girls start arriving at the hospitals."

Marcus continued to stare directly at me, and I held his gaze. If he did not agree, I would execute him. Those were the orders coming in from the Human Council. Marcus had seen Papa and the boys; they would not allow him to return to Volterra with this knowledge, unless he began to agree to work with us.

Marcus nodded. "It will be done."

At this moment, Leah came in from the patio. She had managed to slip past Byron, who was supposed to be keeping her outside and away from the non-Cullen male vampires. When she walked into the room, Marcus stiffened as his eyes landed on her. She froze, as if unable to move under the burden of his gaze. Rodrigo flashed across the room to crouch in front of her as Papa snarled his displeasure.

But Marcus held up his hands in front of himself, in a conciliatory gesture. He gave one more glance at Leah and then moved his gaze to Carlisle.

"It seems there is much to be done. May I use your office?" he asked Carlisle.

"My office may be more suited to your purposes, Lord," Jasper replied, redirecting Marcus from the office that also served as entrance to the bedroom where Celeste lay sleeping. He had returned to the house quietly during the introductions. He led Marcus upstairs to the third floor and installed him in his old office, then flashed back downstairs.

Jasper, Papa, and Carlisle began to consult quietly, while Rodrigo pulled Leah close, stroking her hair. Leah's eyes were glazed, and she was shaking.

All I could think was, at least I hadn't had to execute Leah's mate in front of her. It appeared the vampire world had a new queen.

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	46. Chapter 46 - Opening the Brothels

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 46 – Opening the brothels

While Marcus worked in Jasper's office upstairs, I began to plan the release of the brothel girls with the allies. Marcus' guard was antsy, and Jasper began to wave them outside. "Lord," I began, addressing him as the Major, since the guards were accepting him in this role.

Jasper looked at me steadily. "Marcus' guard will not be safe outside. There are allies outside who have been waiting for years for some action. The smell of Italian blood is inflaming them."

It was true. Billy had called one of the Home boys and warned that Sam was having a lot of trouble keeping Brady and Colin in line. They were itching to take out some vampires, now that Aro was down. They wanted to take part in the dismantling of the vampire world by literally tearing apart a few vampires. But the Human Council wanted some of the Volturi guards alive in order to give testimony and stand trial. We had a great deal of information from the mind-readers, but once again, we didn't want the human race to rely solely on vampire allies' testimony in a trial of the vampire leaders.

So instead of sending the guards outside, Jasper sent the guards to the third floor to wait in the hall outside of the office Marcus was working in.

I turned to Carlisle. "There will be a lot of badly injured girls being released from custody in a few hours. We're going to need help…"

Carlisle recovered himself, looking at me intensely. "Edward is a doctor. He and I will both help. We will need a lot of supplies. I will go to Seattle…"

"I would prefer if you stayed in Forks. I need you," I said softly.

Carlisle ran his hand through his hair and then smiled. "I will send for supplies and have them brought to the hospital."

The mind-reader told me that Crazy wanted to come to Forks, but I asked him to request that she go work with the ally doctor in the Midwest. My doctor friend had been training the recovering girls she had treated, but Crazy still had medical skills from her EMT days as a human that would be useful to the doctor at this time.

Before noon the next day, the buses started arriving with the girls who the allies had begun to pick up from the brothels.

I was surprised to see that all of the Cullens went to the hospital to offer their assistance to the human girls.

There was an appalling lack of pain medication, and Carlisle was doing triage on a group of young women who would die even if the best medical care from twenty years ago had been available. Jasper moved from room to room, using his gift to give the girls' a few minutes of peace. After he left, their pain would begin again, but the respite gave them time to get their thoughts in order.

Rosalie stunned us all. It was as if she finally began to realize that her human ordeal had been visited on every young human girl when they reached the age of sixteen. Like Jasper, Rosalie moved from girl to girl, talking with them, getting their names, and occasionally getting one of them to laugh. She combed their hair and helped them wash, comforting them as best she could. These actions, however small, would have been unimaginable coming from Rosalie just a few days ago.

The toll it took on Rosalie was only obvious when she left the rooms. I occasionally caught a glimpse of her as she leaned against one of the walls in the hallway between her visits to the girls' rooms. It was as if twenty years of blocking her thoughts and emotions broke at once. Esme had also come to the hospital and was going from room to room with Carlisle, helping take histories and get names and other personal information.

After a few days, I found Esme softly talking to Rosalie in a hallway. Rosalie was leaning against a wall, with her usually haughty head bowed, looking like she would cry if she could. It appears that the rift between them had been healed by the joint effort of working with the dying human teenagers.

Jasper continued to go back to his house at night, to check on Ardella and Amy. It was odd, but he seemed to take comfort in making Ardella's daughter Amy laugh. I knew his relationship with the child probably started as a way to gain Ardella's trust, but the bond developing between himself and the child was real.

As the vampires in the town started to realize the tide was turning in the humans' favor, they began to let the humans in their custody walk outside freely without wearing collars. As Forks was small, the sixteen humans in the city soon found one another and began talking about their lives.

Rosalie had suggested to Emmett, who continued to appear at his job at the bar daily, that he might want to get some textbooks from the high school. Emmett continued to give informal updates on the status of the Insurgency to the vampires of Forks, until such time as the Human Council started announcing the planned release of all the humans in custody.

Why the Human Council was being so damned slow, I didn't know. They had known what was going to happen, why hadn't they gotten their plan ready a year ago?

Finally, the announcements were made.

The Human Council announced that all humans were free.

The humans living in the death camps were to be moved to apartments that the allies had been setting up and stocking in preparation for this day.

The humans living in vampire homes were encouraged to move to these complexes as well, or to local housing, as they would need help with independent living skills. We had talked Mademoiselle, the Manners Training teacher, into coming up with a program for developing the necessary skills needed for independent living. The former human blood slaves would eventually be allowed to move back into the houses they had lived in during their captivity, or move to other housing of their choice. Most humans had been told, as they were growing up, where their human families had lived. Many had street addresses or family names that the allies could track. Quite a few had expressed an interest in eventually making their way back to their family's homes.

The brother girls would begin moving into the apartment complexes as they became strong enough to leave the hospitals.

In the complexes, people would be in group living, learning basic life skills such as cooking, reading, and the basics of independent living.

Each city would be placed under a provisional government, composed of human residents of that city during the Vampire Occupation. This council would consist of former human blood slaves, residents of the brothels, if there had been one in the city, and the living death camps, if there had been one in the city. God help the vampires living in a city that had supported a brothel. Where possible, a former colony member, who had experienced independent living and self-government, was added to this provisional council. This council was given complete control of all aspects of city governance, both human and vampire. They had local authority over all vampires in the town. This was part of the plan that I had encouraged. I had noticed in my travels that the enforcement of the Rules varied from city to city. So if the vampires had been kind to humans when they were in authority, they might be able to look forward to similar treatment at the hands of new governors. As most of the humans would have spent their entire existence under vampire law, they were pretty much treating the vampires as they themselves were treated.

As the living death camps were emptied of humans, the local cops and death camp guards were ordered to report to those camps. There, they were required to put on the attire previously worn by the human inmates, and would await their trials with the same access to books, visitors, and legal council they had afforded the humans who had spent the previous 19 years interned in the same walls. In other words, they would have no contact with the outside world prior to their trials.

The rest of the vampires were to report to the local police station and were given arm bands that marked their status. There were not enough facilities to imprison all vampires, and the Human Council had decided not to execute them all immediately. They would be allowed what the humans had not been allowed – the opportunity to stand trial. In most cases, they were ordered to stay in the towns they had lived in until the time of the trials began.

If they refused to stand trial, they were executed on the spot.

Papa still argued against the reunion of the cousins if we were all to be in one place, outside of Home. He was still afraid that something would happen to us if we were together, so we stayed separated. Home was still a place that no one could find, due to the gift that one of the vampires had, and I would have been happier if all my cousins stayed there. Of course they wouldn't, and now three of them were with me at all times.

Somehow, it had happened. Somehow, humans had regained control of their world.

The Council initially named Marcus the leader of the surviving vampires and decided to communicate with him. He did not return to Volterra, but instead established a residence in Seattle. It was decided that Papa and Jasper would be co-leaders with him. Carlisle was asked, but he wanted to remain a doctor. He argued that he needed to begin training humans to be doctors, and to found a medical school, which would not allow him to dedicate the time needed to be a ruler of the vampire world.

As for myself, I was tired, and I wanted to go home, which is what I called heaven, to be with my mother. I had done my part; I had contributed to the freedom of my people. The burden of feeling the pain of the humans rolling off of the vampires on a daily basis was taking its toll.

The Council wanted me to live, reminding me that when I died, any vampire who hadn't been given the antidote died too.

So I had to stay alive, to keep allowing the Council and allies to draw samples of my blood. While I was confined on the living death camps as a child, my blood had been drawn to serve as vampire food. It had poisoned all who drank it.

Now, my blood was being drawn again, but this time it was to be used as the antidote. It would only be given, on a lottery basis, to vampires who agreed to stand trial. All the rest would die when I did, if not sooner.

I knew that Jasper and Marcus would both be tried, and they would be sentenced for their part in the enslavement of the human world. The initial plan was to have their sentences run at different times, so that one would be ruling the remaining vampires. The fear was that without a recognizable leader, the remaining vampires might turn nomad. There could still be some vampires who would escape human justice; some who had not drank the tainted bottled blood.

After a month, with Carlisle and the rest of the Cullens spending 24 hours a day at the hospital, there began to be a break. Over half of the brothel girls had died of their wounds, and half of the survivors might yet die. But one quarter would live. This was more than I had hoped for.

During this time, I started spending more time at home, as I now considered the Cullen house. One of the rulings had been that if a human living with a vampire wanted to stay with the vampire in the house, the council would honor that request. Carlisle and Esme had no charges against them, so there had never been a question about their freedom.

Esme had initially stayed with us, but she and Papa had finally decided to go see the Home property, as she would live there. They had both been working with the recently freed humans of Forks and had not spent time together. That was going to be remedied.

One day, in early February, 2040, only Carlisle and I were in the house. I was exhausted, but he found some lasagna, and we sat on the cushions in front of the file. Had it only been 8 weeks since this had been our routine?

He stroked my hair while I ate. We sat in silence for a while, staring at the fire. Then he slid down so that we were eye-to-eye.

The front door opened, as it had so many times before in the past eight months, and Jasper entered quietly. He sat next to us too. They looked at one another, and then each took one of my hands.

"You know that we love you, little one?" Carlisle asked.

I nodded. I hadn't known originally, but I had started feeling the pain when we were separated that I knew meant we were mates.

"Will you stay with us?" Jasper asked. I nodded.

"As long as I stay human," I agreed.

"Little darlin'," said Jasper, "will you tell us your name?"

I smiled. Finally, it felt right. I no longer needed to wait to see my mother to hear my name again.

"Isabella, but I prefer Bella," I said softly, turning to gaze at my now mates with a smile.

THE END

PLEASE REVIEW. Thanks to everyone who made it this far, and to those who kept me going by posting your reviews, and/or marking the story as a favorite or putting it on your alert list. It was greatly appreciated.

I may tag some outtakes to the end of the story, as there were quite a few things I cut from the final version of the story. The two outtakes I posted separately didn't seem to get much attention. I don't know if they weren't noticed, but for that reason, I will tag any future outtakes to the end of this story.

I had a few requests, way back, about posting a separate story about Bella's years in the wilderness, prior to meeting the Cullens. I have drafted a few chapters and may post them at the end of this story eventually. If there is enough interest, I will start to post them as a separate story. My only concern in posting such a story is that almost all the characters, other than Bella, will be my non-canon creations.

Thanks again for reading.


	47. Chapter 47 - Epilogue

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am indebted to Stephenie Meyers for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Chapter 47 – Epilogue 1 – Settling down to "mated" life, and the story of Crazy and the mind-reader

Two months had passed. We no longer counted days, we had returned to a twelve month calendar, as there were no more humans in captivity.

I woke up one morning to find Carlisle curled around me like a glove. He was a little cold, but his body gradually warmed in contact with mine, so over the course of the night he had warmed up to near human body temperature. I could hear his purr before opening my eyes, so I kept them closed a while longer just to enjoy it.

Finally he laughed. "I know you're in there, sweetheart. Good morning."

"Already?" I asked, stretching and looking over at him. His topaz eyes, three inches away, startled me. "Gah!" I exclaimed, and would have fallen out of bed with the force I used to shove myself backwards to get away if he hadn't been holding me.

His body shook with silent laughter. "Jasper left for Seattle about two hours ago, no reason to pull away," he teased.

I swatted at him, and rolled out of bed, grabbing a robe lying on the bedside table. "I don't shove myself away from Jasper, so cut it out."

Sometimes I picked out my own clothes now. We had negotiated a little, now that we were mates. Their instincts were to be even more dominating, and they had even gone through a phase where they even hand-fed me, but I finally told them I was hard-wired for independence. Clothes were one of the few things they were willing to negotiate with me over. And, so far, it was about my only independent action that wasn't causing a daily spat.

Crazy was downstairs, playing tag with little Ron. Right now his mother, my cousin Hope, was staying with us. She liked that the vampresses took on some of the baby-sitting duties. They claimed they weren't duties, that they liked being around children.

Carlisle and Jasper were still on an uneasy terms with Crazy, but she continued to come and go as she pleased. She and the mind-reader had finally become "official" mates shortly after the Insurgency, and we hadn't seen either of them for over a month. Now they seemed to come up for air about once a week, and I got Crazy during that time. The mind-reader spent his time consulting with Marcus and Jasper.

Initially Marcus had been nervous around the mind-reader. After all, he had kept a steady watch on all three of the Volturi leaders for nearly three years, and advised the Human Council, through me, of all of their thoughts about the Resistance. When Marcus finally met him, he was even more surprised. The mind-reader, human name Jetsun Milarepa, had been something of a trouble-maker in Tibet prior to being a celebrated mystic who was considered the first to achieve complete enlightenment in a single lifetime. He had been well-known as a runner as well and had studied black magic prior to studying with his final teacher. As a young man, he had brought down a hailstorm in his village when he was angered with his family, killing thirty-five people. Marcus had heard of the celebrated monk when he was alive but had no idea that he had been turned into a vampire.

Marcus was not surprised to learn that such a talented mind-reader had never come to Aro's court. The vampire who had turned the mind-reader had no idea that his powers of concentration due to the years of meditation and enlightenment would allow his latent gift to enable him to read anyone's mind, anywhere in the world. Because of his ability, he was also able to steer clear of other vampires with ease.

I had only met him because of Crazy. Crazy was his mate, but she did not initially accept him.

"I was a good Catholic girl, Baby, and he was a Buddhist with a shaved head wearing funny robes. I couldn't bring myself to even think of doing the nasty with a monk," Crazy told me. If you wanted it laid out in no uncertain terms, just ask Crazy. It never seemed to cross her mind that the word "filter" might apply to her speech as well as coffee makers.

It had taken decades for Crazy to get used to the idea of being mated to a Buddhist monk. During that time, she had met me. Since Crazy was a nomad and had managed to get a job traveling in Aro's vampire world order, the mind-reader had initially made friends with me because he thought his role would be to build a home for the two of them around Crazy's human ward.

He found his inability to read my mind both puzzling and relaxing. Once he realized my mission as a freedom fighter, he set out to help me fulfill it, giving me full access to any information he could glean from the minds of those around me. He also helped me come to terms with my gift as "slayer", that I had been given upon the death of my mother the day I escaped the living death camp. He had, of course, known that Jasper and Carlisle were my mates, but he hadn't told me because he knew I wasn't ready to accept it. He let them tell me in their own time and on their own terms, something I gradually came to appreciate.

That his loyalty was to me, and not to the Human Council, proved troubling to the Council members. It was my C.O. (Commanding Officer) who finally figured out that I had this mind-reading friend. He had initially wondered if I was the mind-reader, but I assured him I was not. I had enough going on with the shared consciousness with my six cousins to deal with everybody else's thoughts. I didn't tell that to my C.O. either. I just told him that I wasn't a mind-reader.

But in the meantime, the mind-reader had waited for Crazy to accept him as her mate. This was contrary to the usual vampire male practice of claiming one's mate as soon as he recognized her.

I asked him about this one day. "So, while I appreciate that you are waiting for Crazy, why didn't you just do it the easy way, and just bite her? I mean, what are you afraid of, that every time you came home she would run to the top of the nearest tree to get away from you?"

He smiled and said, "Something like that. The simple truth is that most of us did not ask for this life, it was thrust upon us. That I have found this beautiful being with whom I will be able to share my eternity is a gift I never expected. Though we may not have asked for this second existence, I can give her the time to adjust to her future life with me."

So romantic. Most guys would just bite her and get it over with. Lucky her.

The vampire trials would be starting soon.

Caius's trial would be one of the first. When he saw what happened to Aro, and learned that Marcus had accepted the position of leading the vampires in what Caius considered a defeat, Caius had turned tail and tried to run and hide.

The mind-reader knew where he went, of course, so the allies found him within hours, intercepting his boat to Antarctica.

Even before he ran, the Human Council had decided that the surviving brothel girls would be allowed to pass sentence on him. The only delay was trying to get as many of the last groups of girls who were rescued strong enough to withstand the rigors of being in court for the length of the trial. No one questioned the outcome, but he was to be allowed counsel. Something no human had been given under the 20 years of Volturi rule.

Once the trials started, our brief period of relaxation would be over, and then the real work of rebuilding the shattered human world would begin in earnest.

PLEASE REVIEW. I WILL SEND AN EXCERPT OF ANY FUTURE CHAPTERS TO ALL REVIEWERS.


	48. Chapter 48 - Outtake 1, Carlisle's B-day

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Epilogue – Outtake 1 – This chapter would have taken place after Chapter 30, Jasper's birthday party, and before the death of Aro in Chapter 44

Date – early winter, year 2039

Chapter 48 -Carlisle's Birthday, part 1

I had wanted to throw a birthday party for Carlisle for his 399th birthday. The cousins, of course, had been working on making him a cake. They finally settled on a London Bridge cake, using a model they came up with from woodcut illustrations of London shown on a 1682 map of London. They made a little raised platform to hold the main body of a rectangular cake, which was formed in the shape of the bridge. This part had the little buildings rising along each side for the houses and structures that lined the bridge in the 17th century, and then they iced little pieces to form as the bridge's supporting arches. The water below they recreated in blue icing, though I doubt it would have appeared blue at the time.

For my part, I had sent an Ally to Carlisle's church to see if they could find the Bible he had read from in the pulpit as a preacher

I knew the Ally would not have an easy task. The churches had been scenes of massacres during the Event of July, 2020. As word got out about what was happening, people had flocked to the churches, especially the elderly. Since the vampires had no need of the elderly, as their blood was not considered sweet, they were killed wherever they were found. The vampires apparently found the concept of sanctuary not only irrelevant but amusing, and there were scenes of sadism as they asked, "Where is your god now?" while carrying out their massacres of the elderly in the church pews.

Afterwards, of course, anything of value was stripped from the churches. The smaller churches generally didn't have a lot of items of value, so many of those were left mostly intact.

The ally found Carlisle's father's church without much trouble. St. Andrews Undermast was an old church, and had survived the London Fire of 1666, just a few years after Carlisle's human death. Although the bodies had been cleared out in the summer of 2020, the signs of a massacre were still present. There were blood stains in the pews and throughout the church, and the pulpit and other areas of the sanctuary had been ransacked during the search for valuables. The windows were still intact, though. Some of the doors had been kicked open; the shattered wood was still lying on the floor. Birds had been living in the building, and the evidence of their nesting was everywhere.

In the rectory, the Ally found Bibles that had been retired from use, including the Bible Carlisle had used when preaching his last sermon, the night he lead members of the congregation into the streets in search of the undead. He also found Carlisle's family Bible. As the King James edition of the Bible was only released in 1611, his grandfather, who had two sons, had started the family tree in his first personal copy. This was then passed to his father, who only had one child before his wife's death. Carlisle's birth, as well as his mother's death, was duly recorded. Carlisle's death was noted as the date of his disappearance, that fateful night in 1663.

On the day of the party at the Cullen house, the entire family was assembled. The girls were grumbling, but I thought it was because the party hadn't been their idea. Esme loved the idea of this party, as it meant the entire family would be assembled. Emmett was always up for a good time, of course. Jasper was present as always, and Edward made an appearance, leaning elegantly against the wall. I tried hard to distance myself from my revulsion at my visions rolling off of him, showing his last day's work at the living death camp in Seattle. This was supposed to be Carlisle's night, after all, and I worked hard to be at least civil to all members of his family. I was, after all, a guest, and although not all of his family members accepted me, I did my utmost to always appear to be friendly to everyone in his household.

The cake and presents had been delivered by UPS, as usual, but in care of Esme. The cousin's cake made quite the impact, and Carlisle was very appreciative. Little Sweetie had followed the cake, and I was having a hard time keeping her out of the icing. Anything with sugar drew her. I was envious of the little immortal's way of dealing with the vampires she disliked and feared. She was my cousin Celeste's companion, and she managed to be visible only to human eyes. But her attraction to the cake icing might give her away, as if any of them noticed the icing was vanishing off of a plate, they would have reason to be suspicious. I did my best not to stare at her as she waited at the edge of the coffee table, her lilac eyes trained on the cake, with two little feet on the edge of the table, and the other two feet on the carpet.

After being duly admired and fussed over, the cake was eventually cut, and I was passed a piece which I attacked with gusto. The cousins had made a white cake as the base and dyed the icing with the various colors for the bridge and houses. The second I set down the plate, Sweetie finished the icing. I made a point of walking away from the plate, hoping her snacking wouldn't be noticed by the normally sharp-eyed vampires.

Suddenly I began to reconsider the gifts I was planning to give Carlisle. I felt stupid. If he had wanted those Bibles, he'd had four centuries to go back for them. What if he didn't want them? I had them in a bag by the sofa, and I started to pull them out after the rest of his family gave him their gifts, but then slipped them back.

"What is it, Sweetheart?" asked Carlisle.

"I got you something, but I think you already have it. Maybe it was just a stupid idea, that's all," I answered.

"I'm sure whatever it is, I'll treasure it because you thought to give it to me," Carlisle answered gently.

I could feel Jasper trying to push some relaxation my way, so I let a little in. I usually blocked him completely, but this time I didn't. What the hell was I thinking? There had been problems between Carlisle and his father. Who was I to give him something from the human past he had so clearly not wanted to dwell on?

"It's something you already have it in your library. I remember seeing it now. I'll send it back and get you something else…" I realized I was babbling.

We all waited for a few minutes, and then I decided to just do it. I hauled the larger Bible, the one used in the pulpit, out of the bag. The Ally had found souvenir gift wrap paper in the church's fund-raising booth, which had been made in the pattern of the stained glass windows. I had wrapped both volumes in this paper.

Carlisle reached for the package.

"It's a book, in case you couldn't guess," I threw in nervously.

Carlisle smiled and paused before unwrapping it, examining the giftwrap closely. A fleeting look of recognition passed across his face, looking at the images of the stained glass windows from his church on the paper. He looked up at me and asked, "Is it all right to open this now?"

I nodded.

He took an unnecessary breath and pulled off the wrapping. He looked in amazement at the huge Bible that had been used for readings to the congregation from the pulpit, turning it over easily in his hands.

I held my breath.

He opened it slowly, looking at the passage marked by the leather bookmark.

"It's marked at your father's last sermon," I said quietly. "They retired the Bible when he retired, as the new pastor brought his own from seminary. The sermons of his last three months were reflections on 1 Corinthians, 13:12-13."

Carlisle nodded. "I haven't seen this for a long time. Actually, I never thought to see it again…" he began. Jasper and Edward both came to stand behind him, looking in wonder at the huge volume he was holding in one hand.

Jasper looked over at me. "It's amazing, but how…?"

I reached for the Bible. "I'll ask the ally to return it. It should be in the church, as it is part of the church's history. I should never have sent someone to get it for you."

"Sweetheart, I love it," Carlisle answered. "Thank you for bringing it here. But…how did you find the church? I don't remember ever mentioning its name."

"Oh, the Ally was very resourceful," I lied. "There was only one Cullen shown on the church registries which survived from the period. So he went there." The truth was that in working with the mind-reader to figure out the identity of Carlisle's creator, I had traveled the streets of London from Carlisle's memories so many times that I was able to pick out the church from his recollections.

Carlisle's father had been the parish priest at St. Andrews Undershaft in London, and had planned to retire as Carlisle assumed his role. The Church of England kept thorough records, so the Reverend Cullen's parish had not been hard to find. After Carlisle's death, his father resumed his position as parish priest. He continued in that role until shortly before his death. His last three sermons had been on the famous lines from 1 Corinthians, 13:12-13, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

"Faith, hope and love (charity), the greatest of these is love (charity)." It seemed in his final days, the Reverend had found peace from the burning anger of his younger days. The elder Cullen had written notes for these sermons, which had been kept in the main office among his papers. The man who had tried to break his son, Carlisle, after the death of his wife during childbirth, had, at the end of his life, appeared to have made peace and found the loving god.

I watched while Carlisle's hand rested on the lines of the page.

Then, of course, it was time for the second present. He looked at the bag holding the second present with both interest and exhaustion, as the emotions from seeing the Bible from his past had clearly awakened old emotions. He examined the smaller package while waiting for me to hand it to him. I wondered if he could guess the contents from its size.

I passed it to him with an even greater feeling of trepidation than the first Bible. This was, after all, the family's personal Bible. Why hadn't he retrieved it, if he had wanted it?

As he opened the giftwrap, I told him that wrapping had been from the church also. He nodded, absently, as he removed it to reveal the book it covered. Carlisle opened his grandfather's Bible slowly, looking at the dates shown on the family tree in the front. I watched as he traced the tree, letting his fingers pause first over his mother's entry, then his own entry. "You found this, too?" he finally asked.

"It was all in the church office. The Ally was very thorough," I replied.

"I would like to thank him," replied Carlisle.

"Well, he's still there, doing a bit of work on the church. It had not been kept up for the past 20 years, so there were a lot of maintenance and repairs to be done."

Carlisle nodded slowly. "Apparently I will have a lot to thank him for then," he replied softly, looking down at his presents. He was silent, lost in his thoughts and memories, and we let him sit in peace. Pulling me over next to him on the sofa, he began to absent-mindedly stroke my hair, while he reread the familiar passages from 1 Corinthians, and the faint writing of his father's notes from nearly four hundred years ago.

Eventually I went to get another piece of cake, trying to decide whether to go forward with his other present. My mind-reading friend had figured out who had changed Carlisle that fateful night in 1663. That vampire, whose identity Carlisle had never known, still resided in London.

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**I am not familiar with the 17th century Anglican titles for the ministry. I researched on-line (of course), but I'm still not sure what title the priest in a church the size of St. Andrews Undershaft would have had. I used parish priest and Reverend for simplicity and clarity's sake in the chapter. If anyone knows more about Anglican Church protocol in the 17th century, and would like to send me information, I will update the chapter with it.


	49. Chapter 49 - Carlisle's B-day (pt 2)

In the year 2020, Vampires took control of society and ordered all humans placed in vampire custody. The people who were not captured formed a Resistance movement, headed by the Human Council, who began to plan the Insurgence.

I am, of course, indebted to Stephenie Meyer for this world we all play in, and these characters we all adore. Additionally, I am indebted to hitntr01, who has graciously allowed me to use certain concepts from her wonderful story "In Need of Rescue", which constitute much of the background of my own story. These include: the language Vampiri, the Rules, the machines used to draw blood from humans, Manners Training, and the plot theme of Edward working as a guard at a facility holding humans. Thank you, hitntr01.

Epilogue – Outtake 1 – This chapter would have taken place after Chapter 30, Jasper's birthday party, and before the death of Aro in Chapter 44

Chapter 49 - Carlisle's birthday party, Part 2

Carlisle seemed to enjoy the two Bibles. He spent part of the evening lost in thought, different from his usual gregarious self, though.

I worried that I had trespassed on his private past. He was not only coven master, but also creator and father figure to the majority of the members of his coven. Only Alice and Jasper had joined from the outside. Yet his personal origins had been left behind.

When he told his own creation story, the story of his change event, Carlisle simply said he had accidentally stumbled upon some ancient vampires living in the London sewers. It was clear that in his mind, there wasn't any possibility that his creator could still exist, so the full details of his own change would never be known.

Due to my so-called gift, which weighed heavily on me like a curse, I sensed the "human" in vampires. I saw their change events as well as their most recent interactions with humans. This might help the freedom fighter, but when spending extended time with an individual vampire, watching their human death on a daily basis became wearing.

In Carlisle's case, when I first met him, I could barely even see his faded human memories, as the attack had taken place at night. He had been drawn to an alley, where he was attacked then dropped and left to change instead of dying. I saw only the confusion and pain of the attack.

As time went on, the details became clearer with each repeated viewing. I began to see a profile of his attacker, just for an instant, in the light of the moon just before he struck. Seen in profile, I noticed that the attacker had a prominent, hooked nose.

The cousins had drawn a picture of the mystery vampire's profile from Carlisle's hazy memories, and once we had an image, we accessed the vampire profiles contained in the Volturi Police's computerized data base. At the time of the Event in 2020, all vampires were required to register, pick a residence city where they would have to remain for five years, and list their gifts.

We started our search of the database looking for vampires dwelling in London during 1660. We didn't think we would get a hit. After all, from the description Carlisle gave, the likelihood of this vampire surviving to the present day didn't seem possible.

Surprisingly, we did find several vampires living in London who had been active during the 1660's. And one had the distinctive hooked-nose from Carlisle's profile. He listed his name as Alfred Donne, and he had been changed during the Viking raids on London in 851 while he was living in London as an apprentice. He had been the coven master of a number of small covens that had existed with various members from around the 10th century to the late 19th century. After that, he seemed to tire of coven life and had killed off the remaining coven members. He currently had a minor post in the Volterran government, which liked putting older vampires in the major cities on their payroll. They felt it was easier to keep control of them.

Once we had identified Alfred as a candidate, the mind-reader had the unenviable task of going through his memories. He said it was like diving into a pool of blood, viewing the scenes of murder. Not only did Alfred and his coven dine on humans, Alfred had on several occasions wearied of the in-fighting of his coven, and killed off the other members. He would grow lonely and restless after a few decades, and always created new vampires that would form a coven for fifty-odd years, before he would kill them off as well.

Finally the mind-reader found a different memory. While Alfred's coven of the 17th century usually fed on the sailors and the prostitutes that worked the London docks, those who were easily lost to society, one night they had sensed an attack on the coven itself, so they had turned in a different direction from their usual feeding ground.

They had gone west on what is now Fleet Street, where they met a human group headed south from one of the London churches. As Alfred was the coven master, he took on the task of finding and eliminating the leader of this human threat. His job wasn't difficult: a tall, blond man with a torch quickly broke ahead of the others, leading the chase when the vampires came into sight.

His height and hair color seemed to indicate it was Carlisle. The mind-reader then followed Alfred's memories of his attack on this man in an alley, one that was quickly aborted and the body dropped when the vampire fled.

It was a match to Carlisle's memories.

So how to tell Carlisle?

I waited until after the party was over, at least for me, when it was time for bed. Carlisle liked to read to me; we were on another Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities. This time, as he was picking up the novel that he left by my bed, I said, "Wait. There was one other thing."

"That was a lot for one evening, little one. I cannot imagine anything else," he replied softly.

"This isn't a thing," I said. "It's a story."

"Ah, now a story. How does it go?" he asked with a smile.

"It starts in London, in the 1660's. There is a church, where a young man looks out over his congregation after his evening sermon. The assembled congregants are dressed warmly and carrying torches, as it is night. He raises his hand after his reading and exhorts them to do God's work this night in safety.

Then he strides down among them, his robes flowing around him. He puts on a cloak against the chill London night air and leaves St. Andrew Understaff for the last time.

He takes one of the torches from the waiting men and leads the group into the street. They are heading south, towards a house a few blocks from the docks, where there have been reports of unholy creatures emerging from the sewers.

Someone appears in the street ahead of the men. It is a girl, appearing to be crippled. But when she turns towards the group, the moonlight glints eerily off of her red eyes. The preacher in the lead begins to pick up the pace. He starts to run after the girl.

The girl turns off of the main street. The leader, who has now distanced himself from his group, passes an alley, where a flash of movement catches his eye. Unnoticed by the rest of his group, he turns off of the road into this alleyway. There he is met by the vampire who has been following him from the rooftops, leaping from one to another in order to keeps pace with the mob while tracking him.

This vampire leaps down on the man, shoving him up against the wall."

Carlisle is watching me silently.

"Do you want me to continue?" I ask.

"How do you know this," he breathes softly.

"In part, from a mind-reader who sorted through your memories. He found a likely match for your attacker in the database, a vampire from the 17th century who still survives in London. Shall I continue?"

"Yes, I want to hear," Carlisle replies.

"The vampire lifts the blond man off of his feet, and in the moment before he plunges his teeth into his victim's neck, there is a flash of his profile in the moonlight."

I pause; Carlisle waits.

"He had a significant schnoz," I add.

"A what?" asks Carlisle.

"A nose, and in his case, a hooked nose. It was clear in his profile in the moonlight, just for a second before he buried his face into his victim's neck. He was interrupted, though, by men who were back-tracking, searching for their leader. So he dropped his victim, still alive but now with venom in his bloodstream, while he leapt back onto the rooftop for safety."

Carlisle nods, thinking.

"Do you remember now?" I ask.

"It's coming back. I try not to think about that night, though."

"Great. So I brought up more old wounds, without bandages," I say quietly.

"No, it was time. Did your mind-reading friend figure out his name?"

"He now goes by Alfred, Alfred Donne. He had maintained a residence along the river for centuries. Until the mid-twentieth century, he kept the building abandoned by making it appear haunted. After that, he ended his latest coven and moved into better quarters. He currently holds an appointment with the Volterran government. His title is Minister of Historical Assets, but he doesn't really have to report anything. The position exists in order to put Alfred Donne on their payroll. It seems Aro likes to keep vampires who might know something in his employ."

"That does sound like Aro," replies Carlisle thoughtfully.

"Is it better, knowing? I mean, we didn't know if we would find anyone, it's been so long. He's been around since the 9th century; he was changed when the Vikings invaded London in 851 A.D. Apparently part of the reason for the Vikings military success was they had a few inhuman fighters among them."

"One of many of their raids on London," said Carlisle.

I kept watching Carlisle. Had I gone too far?

He looked at me and smiled, seeming to guess my thoughts. "Are you worried I am angry or unhappy?" he asked.

"Yes, a little."

"No, I find your researches most interesting. And your confederates more than a little interesting. I would like to meet them," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Maybe after the Insurgency," I replied. He nodded.

"Happy Birthday," I said as I lay down, starting to drift off to sleep.

His answer was the light touch of his cool hand on my forehead, brushing my hair away from my eyes.

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